Although the wave of ChatGPT recently demonstrated the full potential of artificial intelligence, the British press group Reach has decided to take the plunge. Holder, among others, of securities daily mirror AND The expressthe company has launched a working group to “explore the possibilities of using artificial intelligence” to write articles, The Guardian reports.
The first three articles were written last week by an AI. Among them is an article titled “7 things to do in Newport,” published March 2 on local news site InYourArea.co.uk. The article lists ideas for tourist outings.
Journalists “on the edge”
Reach CEO Jim Mullen says journalists shouldn’t fear being replaced by machines. This first test, however, made some journalists “nerves”, anonymous sources inform The Guardian, while the press group announced in January the elimination of 200 positions to reduce costs.
AI development is not part of a “hidden agenda” aimed at achieving significant savings by reducing human staff, Jim Mullen argued.
Free up time for high value-added items
Still according to the head of the press group, using AI can be relevant to produce content with low added value and based on data. This can be the case for items like “things to do”, the weather or even road traffic.
“There are a lot of ethics around AI and journalistic content,” said Joe Mullen. “We produce a lot of content based on real data. It is possible to put it together in a [article] well thought out: what an AI can do. We are trying to apply it in areas where we already have traffic to allow journalists to focus on content commissioned by publishers.”
Reach isn’t the first media group to get started. In January, BuzzFeed said it partnered with OpenAI, which developed ChatGPT, to help it produce content in the United States.
Source: BFM TV
