Interview: How Is AI Changing Journalism?

Professor Beuthner, artificial intelligence is currently one of the most talked-about topics in the media. To what extent is it actually changing journalism? 

Michael Beuthner: The word ‘actually’ suggests that there is such a thing as a ‘pretend’ change. This is down, on the one hand, to the AI hype and, on the other, to scaremongering. From a pragmatic point of view, AI naturally has an effect on journalism. However, AI does not alter the fundamental values of professional journalism, nor does it replace it; rather, it supports certain work processes and enables new formats and visualisations. Newsrooms must adapt their working environment accordingly so that AI can be used safely and effectively as a tool. This applies to workflows, integrated working materials and training programmes to develop the relevant skill sets.

What changes are you currently noticing most clearly in day-to-day journalism? 

Michael Beuthner: In the numerous existing areas of application: in the compilation of news, the curation of personalised news, and the summarising of articles used in social media feeds and newsletters. In the automated generation of texts or text variants in easy-to-understand language or translated into foreign languages; in content-as-a-service systems, where content is made available for various communication channels; in research tasks (including fact-checking) and SEO checks; in scanning news situations and text mining; and in deriving and compiling topics. And, of course, in the modification of existing photos or videos, or the creation of entirely AI-generated ones. Text-to-video technology makes it possible to present written content as video using an AI avatar. AI also automatically tags archive material, for example, and can provide suitable images or videos based on the news text. All of this not only makes work processes more effective but also opens up new business models.

Are there any developments that you would not have thought possible a few years ago? 

Michael Beuthner: I wouldn’t have expected the pace of development in this area to be quite so rapid. How quickly it became possible to use AI to generate photos, videos or even works of art – and in ever-improving quality. And the fact that AI-generated news presenters can now read out news scripts in real time – I hadn’t expected that to happen so quickly. At the same time, I wouldn’t have thought that so many people in society would so quickly succumb to the convenience of the prompt and stop doing their own research and thinking … and fall for the ‘digital cocaine’ that makes you addicted to the trivial, the ‘slop’. However, I did indeed expect that companies would use AI wherever possible to operate more efficiently and further increase the pressure to perform. In a way, this is a repeat of the history of the introduction of the computer – only in a new dimension.

Many people are concerned that AI could displace creative professions. Do you share this view?

Michael Beuthner: In my view, professions that are based primarily on recurring rules, standardised analyses or clearly defined routines are significantly more affected by automation. Such concerns are fundamentally understandable – but they should not be based on half-knowledge or get ahead of actual developments. With the ‘Job-Futuromat’, the Federal Employment Agency offers a guidance tool that shows what proportion of the individual tasks within a profession can, in theory, be automated. For journalism, for example, the figure given is around 40 per cent; for designers, the figures are even significantly higher. However, such figures are often misunderstood: they do not mean that entire professions will disappear. Without the necessary context, they can unsettle young people in particular who are interested in the creative industries. AI should therefore be understood as a tool and used deliberately. The key is having the right mindset – seizing opportunities without ignoring the risks. At the moment, I am more concerned about the increasing local authority cuts to culture, media and public spending than I am about AI itself.

Where do you see the greatest opportunities that AI offers journalists?

Michael Beuthner: As a smart tool for optimising individual aspects and processes of journalistic work. A sort of booster for ideas, not a replacement for them.

Where are humans still indispensable? 

Michael Beuthner: When going out, for example! AI cannot be a reporter who goes outside and observes the world with their senses. AI can (so far) only classify and interpret facts to a limited extent. And it certainly cannot comment – to do so, AI would need an opinion, valid arguments and reliable information. It is still too prone to ‘hallucinations’ and errors, and is sometimes trained using questionable data. Above all, AI isn’t intuitive; in certain situations – such as crises or dangerous situations – it cannot react anywhere near as well as a human. Nor is it emotionally intelligent – at least as I understand it. AI is always merely an imitation of something; it is always based solely on calculated probabilities and on existing information, not on the information that is newly generated through all the human senses at the moment of observation and through one’s own experiences.

What risks does this development entail – for example, with regard to disinformation, deepfakes or the credibility of the media? 

Michael Beuthner: That’s only indirectly related to journalism; after all, it’s journalism’s job to correct the fakes or disinformation. However, journalism is not the verifying authority for all the rubbish and all the lies or AI-generated (un)truths on social media. In the key areas that journalism covers anyway, it is increasingly engaged in fact-checking and highlighting fakes. The paradox, however, is that fact-checking requires specific AI tools to even be able to detect manipulations or fake news produced by AI, because lies are becoming ever more convincing. 

Will topics such as media literacy and fact-checking become even more important in the future? 

Michael Beuthner: Yes, core journalistic skills should in fact become a form of general knowledge, taught in schools as part of the media literacy curriculum. My colleague Prof. Dr Bernhard Pörksen, for example, has long been calling for a sort of ‘editorial society’ to make us more resilient against the lies, disinformation and seductions of the platform economy through an understanding of good journalism.

What new job roles are currently emerging as a result of digitalisation and the use of AI?

Michael Beuthner: In journalism – none. The skills required for the applications mentioned above can be learnt. However, AI is changing how we collaborate with other professional fields: in future, editors will work more closely with data and social media analysts, as well as prompt engineers. Long before AI, however, roles such as social media editors had already emerged, and in online journalism it was necessary to acquire skills relating to hypertextuality, transmedia storytelling and new business models. I would therefore tend to speak of expanded job roles rather than entirely new ones. 

What skills will those starting out in the profession particularly need in future? 

Michael Beuthner: First and foremost, the traditional ones: sound research skills, specialist journalistic knowledge and expertise – such as mastery of text and presentation styles, conducting interviews, and the ability to provide well-founded commentary, criticism, interpretation and context – as well as a strong network and reliable sources. In journalism, crisis reporting and data journalism are becoming even more crucial cross-disciplinary skills required in every department. Above all, legal frameworks are becoming increasingly relevant. Alongside existing data protection regulations, the EU is working on explicit guidelines for AI systems, data protection, platform regulation, etc. (including the AI Act).

Does this also change the way journalists and communications professionals see their own role?

Michael Beuthner: No, I don’t think so. The fundamental understanding of their role – that of being an observer of the world and current events, gathering information, verifying it, presenting it thoughtfully and making it available to offer people guidance and enable them to form opinions, which in turn is a cornerstone of a free democracy – AI does not change that. And the reason is simple: it is a mindset rooted in morality, ethics, law and responsibility, professional standards and quality benchmarks, and personal character traits! And this combination cannot be replicated by an algorithm. 

What might journalism look like in ten years’ time as a result of AI?

Michael Beuthner: I have already outlined the effects and areas of application for AI in journalism. So here is a somewhat more concise answer: digitalisation and AI are transforming journalism, but they will not lead to a revolution that replaces it. For me, the interesting question is: what kind of journalism does our society want in the future, or rather, which AI-enabled offerings will it accept? I think people will continue to recognise the value of good journalism and demand it. The coronavirus pandemic, crises and wars, and the lack of press freedom in autocratic countries underline this necessity in the strongest possible terms.          

Do you believe that AI will be more of a tool or a genuine co-creator of creative processes? 

Michael Beuthner: In my view, AI is only limited in its creativity, depending on what you mean by that or how you define it. A versatile tool almost always supports creativity because it facilitates ideas. I would find it a shame if we were to hand over the creative process itself to AI – in other words, become creatively lazy, regard merely issuing prompts as creativity, and simply let AI supply us with the results. I already see this happening in everyday life, where I perceive AI more as a creativity killer.  

You have been teaching journalism for many years now. How does your degree programme at SRH University prepare students for the changing demands in media and communication?

Michael Beuthner: As part of the Creative Industries Management degree programme at SRH University, we are among the first programmes to have specifically responded to digital transformation processes and the use of AI, and to have developed the curriculum accordingly. With regard to the specialisation modules for journalism training, there are, amongst other things, specific subject areas such as ‘Data Journalism and AI’, ‘Digital Research and Editorial Management’ or the ‘Future Development Lab’, in which we examine the transformation processes in journalism in detail. But I would like to emphasise once again that the training must focus on something more fundamental than simply incorporating as much AI as possible. For technical and practical skills must be based on intellectual ability and that mindset – a ‘will’, an ‘attitude’ – which I have already discussed in relation to the question of self-image. And then, of course, there is also the specialist and subject-specific (beat) knowledge. A degree programme must offer and cater for this triad. I also hope that, in future, we will be able to offer a Master’s programme in journalism that delivers on these future-oriented objectives.      

What advice would you give to young people who are passionate about media, communication and journalism, but who are at the same time unsure about how the industry is evolving?

Michael Beuthner: Rediscover journalism for yourselves; recognise its relevance in an age when AI is putting our understanding of truth and reality to the test, and we are increasingly inundated with AI-generated slop, disinformation, propaganda and fake news. In journalism, AI is used merely as a tool to improve work processes and make them more effective. We must all be aware that the major tech companies in the platform and social media worlds are not only increasingly shaping our communication behaviour, but do not always have our best interests at heart and may ultimately even be opposed to, or pose a threat to, freedom and democracy. Professional journalism is therefore not only one of the most rewarding professions, but also an important one that is vital to the system.

Thank you very much for the interview!