Some Nigerian journalists weigh pros, cons of AI in newsrooms
Some Nigerian journalists weigh pros, cons of AI in newsrooms
When it comes to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and news, the first thing that comes to mind for most people is misinformation and disinformation aggravated by the use of AI.
However, while AI-powered deepfakes, bot postings, and hallucinations are real, AI has been put to more fundamental and practical use in making the business of journalism and news more effective and efficient.
The use of AI in journalism in Nigeria is a topic of growing interest. While AI has been widely adopted in various sectors to enhance productivity and accuracy, its application in Nigerian journalism is still evolving due to several factors.
Nigerian journalists are starting to see the advantages of AI in the media, including faster turnaround times and higher output.
In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos, some journalists from different media outlets expressed diverse views on how the use of AI had impacted their newsrooms.
Speaking to NAN, a Techpoint Correspondent, said the integration of AI in newsrooms had revolutionised the way journalists work by enhancing efficiency and productivity.
According to him, AI automates tasks such as news rewrites, transcriptions, and social media promotions, which saves time and increases productivity.
He emphasised that AI had also assisted in understanding trends and researching stories, thereby improving the quality of work.
The correspondent noted that he used AI for about 10 per cent of his tasks, adding that other people in their newsroom had also positively benefited from its use.
“Another thing AI has really helped me with is understanding and knowing trends, and researching things that would have taken me a lot of time to do,
“It has helped me with rewriting stories that are not exclusives, such as press releases and social media promotions,” he said.
According to him, AI has reduced production time, as tasks that would normally take a journalist 20 minutes to 30 minutes to complete can now be done in 15 minutes.
He noted that, however, one needed to be careful while using it, adding that AI sometimes made mistakes.
He said that his organisation encouraged the use of AI and had provided training for journalists on how to use it effectively.
Similarly, a journalist with Business Day said that AI had enhanced the efficiency of her newsroom and improved the quality of journalism.
She, however, said that they had been warned not to solely depend on AI in her newsroom.
According to her, the newsroom management has told them that AI is what one fed it, explaining that it cannot think by itself but only work on what is imputed into it.
The BusinessDay journalist, however, said that AI had been greatly impactful in the area of transcription, grammar checks and paraphrasing, which had helped increase the speed of story production.
According to her, the use of AI has freed up time for more creative tasks and has improved the overall quality of journalism.
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“Our newsroom is digitally compliant, editors emphasise the importance of using AI to support, rather than replace, the work of journalists.
“We are encouraged not to allow AI to write our stories, because AI is only as good as the information it is given,” she said.
Citing instances, she explained that when covering an event and there was need to turn out a story quickly, instead of transcribing manually, an AI tool could be used.
She added that some of her colleagues in other media organisations said they used AI to generate headlines and story ideas.
She said that AI was not as bad as people made it out to be, noting that it could enhance one’s work and free up time for more creative tasks.
“I am open to exploring how AI can improve journalism. By embracing AI, we can take our storytelling to the next level,” she said.
Also, a journalist with Daily Independent acknowledged that her newsroom was yet to fully harness the potential of AI in news writing.
She explained that her newsroom had not taken up AI as a major tool for news writing yet.
The journalist, however, personally highlighted the significant benefits of AI in her work, noting that she utilised it primarily for idea generation, research, and feature storytelling.
Citing examples, she said AI had aided her in completing tasks more efficiently, noting that write-ups that previously took two days to complete could now be done in under 30 minutes.
She emphasised that AI had also helped in error detection, thereby enhancing the overall quality and efficiency of her work.
The journalist predicted that widespread adoption of AI would occur over time, transforming the news writing process across the industry.
She noted that some media organisations were beginning to recognise the value of AI and had started leveraging it.
Similarly, a journalist with the Sun Newspapers noted that the management of her organisation were not tech-savvy, and as such, had not explored the use of AI in the newsroom.
According to the journalist, the management has never had a discussion with employees about the use of AI in the newsroom and was yet to train its staff on its usage.
She revealed that she used AI personally to enhance her work, particularly for transcribing interviews and generating ideas for stories.
The journalist emphasised that AI was an indispensable tool for modern journalism, adding that those who failed to leverage it would be left behind.
However, she cautioned against over-reliance on AI, noting that it could lead to complacency and redundancy among journalists.
“I have observed that some journalists rely excessively on AI tools for generating story ideas and content, which has made them lazy,” the journalist said.
She further emphasised that excessive reliance on AI could erode the authenticity and creativity of a journalist’s work.
“When you use AI tools for both idea generation and story writing, you cannot genuinely claim ownership of the content,” the Sun journalist stated.
