Conference highlights smart tools’ importance to newsrooms

Doha, Qatar: Experts assured that the widespread application of artificial intelligence in newsrooms will complement and enhance rather than supplant...

Doha, Qatar: Experts assured that the widespread application of artificial intelligence in newsrooms will complement and enhance rather than supplant a journalist’s work.

This was highlighted during the third session of Al Jazeera’s AI in Media conference titled “AI in Newsrooms: Pioneering Experiences,” with many examples given of the application of machine-learning in global media outlets such as the Associated Press, Reuters, The Washington Post, and NoBorder.

Troy Thibodeaux, Product and AI Services Manager at the Associated Press, said that AI’s main job was to streamline the production process in an ever-demanding industry that requires its professionals to develop in tandem with the ever-evolving media landscape.

“Reporters were coming to us and saying, here are things that take our time that don’t feel like journalism to us, can AI help us with that?” he said before pointing to the extensive work done closely with journalists to help answer those questions.

For a journalist, a question only begets another question, and the more questions asked, the more prominent AI integration into the newsroom becomes.