TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Charlie Beckett, a professor from the London School of Economics (LSE), delved into the prospects of the media industry in the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the CTeC Asia event on Saturday (Oct. 21).
Beckett, leading the LSE's media think tank Polis Journalism and Artificial Intelligence (AI) project, shared his findings across newsrooms from over 40 countries that have been experimenting with generative AI, saying: "They are being cautious since there are risks involved," as the information "could be inaccurate."
He recognized that newsrooms are attempting to balance innovation, integrity, and efficiency with AI, so he urged media professionals to "make sure that there's always a human in the loop. Make sure that the humans make the judgments, not the AI."
However, Professor Beckett expressed optimism toward using generative AI in media organizations because it helps journalists become more efficient and effective in doing specific tasks, from translation and coding to reformatting.
He stressed the way for news organizations to stand out amid the growing number of AI tools on the market is to "have some sort of added value," providing successful examples of those that have been focusing on "more in-depth news, more exciting news, or more personal news, or even more polarized partisan news."
The LSE professor advised aspiring journalists and journalism students to experiment with AI tools but noted that the fundamental rules of thriving in the media industry have stayed the same: stay curious about the world and be very hard-working.
Most importantly, "there is no substitute for physical contact," Beckett shared, "go out and talk to people in real life as you will always get extra value and insights. That is going to make your whole journey stand out."
