{"id":37852,"date":"2023-11-27T14:56:37","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T19:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=37852"},"modified":"2023-11-27T14:58:26","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T19:58:26","slug":"when-robots-deliver-the-news","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/articles\/when-robots-deliver-the-news\/","title":{"rendered":"When Robots Deliver the News"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin test-block-editorial-leadin is-style-default has-media has-media-focus-center-middle\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1601\" height=\"901\" src=\"\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-sejin-paik-banner.jpg\" class=\"\" alt=\"Sejin Paik smiling portrait with Boston skyline in background.\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-sejin-paik-banner.jpg 1601w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-sejin-paik-banner-636x358.jpg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-sejin-paik-banner-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-sejin-paik-banner-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-sejin-paik-banner-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-sejin-paik-banner-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-sejin-paik-banner-992x558.jpg 992w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-sejin-paik-banner-1500x844.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-sejin-paik-banner-1366x768.jpg 1366w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-sejin-paik-banner-1280x720.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/files\/2023\/11\/comtalk-sejin-paik-banner-854x480.jpg 854w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1601px) 100vw, 1601px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\">Sejin Paik (\u201924), a PhD candidate in the Emerging Media Studies program, is interested in the impact of AI and algorithms on newsrooms and journalism ethics. Photo by Guramar Lepiarz<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-prepress-tag\">AI<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhen Robots Deliver the News\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\">A Q&amp;A With Sejin Paik (\u201924) on the growing role of\u2014and concern with\u2014AI- and algorithm-driven journalism<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar test-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-categories\">\n\t\t\t<ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/category\/emerging-media\/\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEmerging Media\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/category\/journalism\/\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJournalism\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">November 27, 2023<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/authors\/steve-holt\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSteve Holt\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t<div style=\"display:none;\">\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools-inner js-prepress-component-share-tools\">\n\t\t<h4>Share<\/h4>\n\t\t<p class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools-article-title\">When Robots Deliver the News<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-share-tools-article-link\">\n\t\t\t<div>\n\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" value=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/articles\/when-robots-deliver-the-news\/\" readonly>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<label>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Copy URL:<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<button class=\"js-prepress-component-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span>Copy<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/button>\n\t\t\t<\/label>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<p>It used to be that to get the day\u2019s news, one would open a locally reported newspaper or turn the television to one of three national broadcast networks. The advent of the Internet turned all of that upside down, and the more recent use of artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content and algorithms to decide which content we see promises to disrupt the journalism industry even further\u2014if it doesn\u2019t destroy it altogether.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sejin Paik (\u201924), a PhD candidate in the Emerging Media Studies program, is interested in the impact of AI and algorithms on newsrooms and journalism ethics. For a 2023 paper in <em>Digital Journalism<\/em>, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/370479672_Journalism_Ethics_for_the_Algorithmic_Era\">Journalism ethics for the algorithmic era<\/a>,\u201d Paik interviewed 16 news editors from as many US states to learn how the adoption of algorithmic patterns and other technologies to gather and distribute news may bump up against those newsrooms\u2019 own ethical guidelines\u2014while also helping journalists do their jobs better.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-teal-background-right\"><p>With the right guardrails and oversight, I believe that generative AI has potential to tackle some long standing challenges that local journalism has faced for years, by empowering individual journalists as well as newsrooms that are willing to experiment.<\/p><cite>Sejin Paik<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Paik arrived at BU by way of Google. There, she worked with a team to launch, in 2018, the company\u2019s AI-generated news aggregator app, Google News. She says the experience of seeing the way news was being curated and distributed on the Big Tech side pushed her to pursue a PhD at COM so that she could explore the impacts new technologies are having on journalism. \u201cI really come from love for the journalism industry,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m always on the side that we need to support journalists to create good information flow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>COMtalk<\/em> spoke with Paik about the effect AI and algorithms are having on local newsrooms and consumers, and what she thinks should be put in place as safeguards.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a test-block-editorial-q-and-a\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-title\"><h2 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-title-heading\">Q<span>&amp;<\/span>A<\/h2><h4 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-title-subheading\">With Sejin Paik<\/h4><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COMtalk:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\"><strong>For those who don\u2019t know, can you briefly define algorithms, algorithmic systems and AI, and how they work in the context of news creation and distribution?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Sejin Paik:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">An algorithm is a sequential procedure used to solve a problem or achieve an intended outcome. In my research, I consider algorithms in the context of AI, in which algorithms are run by AI techniques such as machine learning, natural language processing and generation to simulate and scale human intelligence processes. I focus on platforms such as social networking sites and search engines that use algorithms to provide services such as curating news feeds. This year, I have expanded my research into investigating generative AI tools driven by large-language and multimodal models both for text and visual content generation for news.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COMtalk:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\"><strong>How are journalists and newsrooms engaging with AI and algorithms currently?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Sejin Paik:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">For more than ten years, the most deliberate use of AI has been through analytics. [These are] audience engagement tools that really shot up with the rise of social media\u2014predicting and aggregating things like ad audience, content and analytics. And I think journalists know that they are using those tools. Where things get a little unintentional for some journalists is that even research on Google search engines\u2014that\u2019s AI. I think now, everybody is aware of that. But in the past, it was more like, \u201cOh, I\u2019m using the search engine\u201d not \u201cI\u2019m using AI and AI-driven algorithms.\u201d Then, journalism breaks off into general reporting\u2014turning around stories daily\u2014and computational journalists, who I consider the investigative journalists. They [often] had a background in data science or computer science. So they would use their own artisanal AI or advanced computational tools. And now\u2014it\u2019s been about a year with [LLM conversational AI tools] ChatGPT and Bard coming out, so I am pretty sure that most journalists use it for some capacity of brainstorming and lightweight production. The younger generations\u2014as they\u2019re so focused on the platformization of news [on] different platforms of social media that I\u2019m sure they use AI to generate different voices of content.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COMtalk:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\"><strong>What are some of the tensions traditional journalists face in doing so?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Sejin Paik:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">Going back to the first one\u2014the analytics tools\u2014ultimately, journalists want to see raw data, but these analytics tools won\u2019t show that. These dashboards will only show what the company wants to show. A lot of journalists told me that they can\u2019t fully trust the data they have on their audience and on content engagement.<br><br>The most interesting finding for me was the realization that [journalists] really don\u2019t have the ability to set context around a story, particularly on algorithmic feeds like social media. One reporter coined this the \u201cdigital soup\u201d issue. When they\u2019re putting their stories on these mainstream platforms\u2014such as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\">bostonglobe.com<\/a>\u2014journalists can know readers are coming to a website with a particular context. Whereas on social media, readers are coming in with completely different needs and they might not even be going in for news. That\u2019s where journalists are like, \u201cWe don\u2019t know how the readers are actually getting to our news, what kind of headspace they\u2019re in.\u201d And that is the algorithmic curation effect of the digital soup. You see the news next to a story of your friends having a baby, followed by a story about your favorite basketball team. Currently, journalists don\u2019t have any agency over this functionality, so they\u2019re unable to grasp how the same exact news is being interpreted in different information feeds and whether curated feeds actually have a significant impact on news consumption.<br><br>The digital soup affects the whole information ecosystem: those who create the information, those who consume it and ultimately, the perception of the information itself. This, in my opinion, is one major reason why tech companies developing advanced AI models that distribute and produce various content, including the news, need to embed journalistic ethical standards into the training of their algorithms. From an implementation side, I understand this is tricky because tech companies have other stakeholder needs to fulfill\u2014and often, they have shied away from taking responsibility for the power they wield over the journalism industry.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COMtalk:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\"><strong>What effect is the use of AI and algorithms in journalism having on news consumers?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Sejin Paik:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">One huge thing is the amplification of national news outlet stories. Existing algorithmic newsfeed platforms might have partnerships with bigger newsrooms or journalistic organizations, which incentivizes them to show stories that are from these partners. And on the consumption side, I think a lot of user engagement shows people clicking through more well-known organizations, which continues to amplify that cycle and pushes out smaller local news organizations\u2019 articles or stories. Importantly, people are also more prone to engaging with news headlines that are polarizing and spark emotion-driven conversations, whether that be humorous or highly sensational. This means that stories produced with the objective and balanced tone of traditional journalism will be less popular than a news article that stokes controversy or an individual\u2019s social media post expressing personal opinions about a certain topic.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COMtalk:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\"><strong>Are there ways to recognize characteristics of news content generated by algorithms or artificial intelligence?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Sejin Paik:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">Right now, no. I think companies or platforms are working on it; they call it watermarking technology. When we talk about the generation of text [by AI], that\u2019s still hard to detect. With images, it\u2019s a little different because the image generation technology isn\u2019t all the way there, particularly in generating hyper-realistic images of humans and scenes. Of course, some of the platforms already do it very well. For example, when it\u2019s used for artistic purposes, I think it\u2019s almost indiscernible, or it\u2019s explicitly labeled, \u201cthis is created by AI\u201d or \u201cthis is AI art.\u201d But if we\u2019re talking about political news generation, and news that\u2019s intended for disinformation purposes, news images are a bit harder to fake. Though we\u2019ve been seeing more and more fake news images and videos created by \u201cdeep fakes\u201d that confuse and mislead people. And, of course, people can further edit photos, which is nearly impossible to detect. In other words, for both text and image generation, the AI technology is good enough that it\u2019s hard to tell whether something is human-produced or AI-generated.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COMtalk:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\"><strong>Is it too early to say whether the integration of AI and algorithms into traditional journalism is negative or positive\u2014or is that the wrong question altogether?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Sejin Paik:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">I hope that for both news consumers and experts, we don\u2019t get too caught up in the hype of whether this is going to completely wipe out humanity or if this technology will replace our jobs. I think that narrative is overblown. With generative AI, I do think journalists and content producers can lean into using it as an expert tool. The more expert you are [in a subject], I think the more helpful it is, because you can discern, \u201cIs this giving me what I need?\u201d and you would know how to fine-tune prompting language. A hot take said with caution: I do think it could also be a good tool when used with full transparency by smaller, under-resourced organizations or even by freelancers. With the right guardrails and oversight, I believe that generative AI has potential to tackle some long standing challenges that local journalism has faced for years, by empowering individual journalists as well as newsrooms that are willing to experiment.<br><br>To answer your question: the technology is here, and it will bring both positive and negative outcomes to journalism. While there are certain journalistic ethical values that won\u2019t and shouldn\u2019t change, I do think the traditional industry conceptualizations around editorial agency, accountability and responsibility will evolve due to AI. Newsrooms will need to be specific about which parts of the editorial process will demand value-alignment assessments with the journalistic standards and algorithmic and AI systems. Some of my practical projections on AI\u2019s impact in journalism (with an emphasis on the positives) will be the new ways of storytelling that journalists can explore through different user interfaces and content design approaches beyond just a ranked, scrolling feed. I also think AI agents will become significant to a journalists&#8217; workflow as well as in their ability to reach and connect to a more diverse audience. Individual journalists could train their own AI agents and use them to communicate their stories with niche audiences simultaneously. This will certainly change the scale and scope of journalistic reach. These agents would be in the full ownership of the journalist who creates them which means the unique voice and perspective of the human journalist will be key to the news agents\u2019 identity.<br><br>Finally, the perceived credibility of existing journalistic institutions is changing due to the way younger generations interact with digital platforms and information online. Researchers in academia and in practice will need to closely monitor and test how news consumers perceive and trust news agents over humans. This will be an important effort in maintaining journalistic integrity in the face of AI.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-question\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">COMtalk:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\"><strong>What changes would you make to alleviate some of your concerns with AI and algorithms in journalism?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-answer\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-name\">Sejin Paik:<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-q-and-a-content\">I think the first one is around context-setting. There\u2019s still so much to be learned from how news consumers are affected by being exposed to the news on these algorithmic platforms. For my dissertation, I\u2019m doing an online experiment around news curation effects. My preliminary findings show that when news is surrounded by memes\u2014over content like activism posts and other news-only posts\u2014the news in that particular curated feed was perceived to have higher credibility and shareability. This is fascinating, and there is more for me to dig into, but on the surface, it shows that there is a significant impact in feeds for news consumption. Where the focus is on how these technologies are affecting the user engagement, we need more research. By doing so, we can try to push on these tech companies for information on how they are choosing to use this data. And this step may start with the enactment of specific policies around user engagement data, particularly as it relates to political news and geopolitical information flow. Being able to show that journalistic content is getting affected in these algorithmic feeds is going to be important for the sustainability of our democracy-driven journalistic organizations in the US and around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It used to be that to get the day\u2019s news, one would open a locally reported newspaper or turn the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1654,"featured_media":37853,"template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"categories":[28,3],"tags":[1741,1742,1286],"bu-publication":[1472],"discipline-type":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/37852"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1654"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/37852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37859,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/37852\/revisions\/37859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37852"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=37852"},{"taxonomy":"discipline-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/discipline-type?post=37852"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=37852"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=37852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}