By Jeb Bladine • President / Publisher • 

Whatchamacolumn: Just like that, my column is done

Artificial intelligence (AI) — a revolution brewing in our media world — already is spilling into your daily lives. Don’t believe me? Read on.

My recent vacation, virtually devoid of news, was a nice mental respite, but I returned empty-handed for a column topic. On deadline, I found this announcement:

“HeyWire AI, a B2B SAAS company, announced today the upcoming launch of WELLS, the industry’s first self-prompting, and fully autonomous AI SAAS content generation engine. This groundbreaking venture will revolutionize the way news is generated, delivered, and consumed.”

“Wow,” wrote the editor who sent me that message, “here it comes.”

I opened a website where AI answers questions. When I typed, “How will AI change local news reporting,” this answer was returned in seconds:

“AI is poised to revolutionize local news reporting in numerous ways. One of the most significant impacts of AI will be on the speed and efficiency of news gathering and dissemination. With the help of AI-powered tools, journalists will be able to quickly sort through vast amounts of data, identify patterns and trends, and generate insights that would have been impossible to uncover manually.

“Another area where AI is likely to make a big difference is in personalization. By analyzing user data, AI algorithms can deliver news content that is tailored to the interests and preferences of individual readers. This will not only improve the user experience but also help news organizations build stronger relationships with their audiences.

“AI is also expected to play a key role in fact-checking and verification. With the rise of fake news and misinformation, there is a growing need for tools that can quickly and accurately verify the authenticity of news stories. AI-powered systems can analyze multiple sources of information, detect inconsistencies and errors, and flag potentially false or misleading content.

“However, it’s important to note that AI is not a panacea for all the challenges facing local news reporting. There are still many ethical and practical considerations that need to be taken into account when using AI in journalism. For example, there are concerns about bias in algorithms, as well as questions about how to ensure transparency and accountability in automated decision-making processes.”

The answer listed its top reference publications and links to five relevant articles, and just like that, my column was finished.

Perhaps you just read your first AI article, but more likely, just the first one you’ve known about.

News-Register publisher Jeb Bladine can be reached at jbladine@newsregister.com or 503-687-1223.

Comments

Don Dix

False and misleading content, plus bias, is found in nearly every submission, whether it's news reporting, editorial pieces and comments, or just everyday conversations. Most cannot just allow the subject to find it's own path to the truth -- always an interjection of personal lean. If the algorithm is in any way biased, the only advantage of AI would be a quicker and more thorough search -- otherwise it's just another opinion.

That aside, I would much rather read (or hear) your personal take and observations of events/decisions/events.

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