Future of professional journalism intact despite emergence of AI, says Fahmi

The Star

The future of professional journalism is secure despite the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI), according to Fahmi Fadzil.  The Communications Minister told a press conference on Tuesday (Feb 20) that the human element of engaging with people is a crucial aspect of journalism, something AI cannot imitate.  Fahmi proposed that journalists make use of AI to lessen their workload by assisting in creating improved stories and verifying facts more quickly and efficiently, and stated his intention to engage in talks with the Malaysian Press Institute to develop additional AI training sessions and modules for journalists in the country.  Read more at http://tinyurl.com/y4uaw5zx  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00 So, with the reality of AI technically, should we journalists in the future be worried that our job will be replaced by others?

00:09 The question is whether with the advent of AI, the jobs of journalists will be made redundant. I don't think so.

00:18 Because AI cannot go down to the ground to speak to people, to interview whether they are on-site, things that are happening in situ, on-site.

00:30 So, there is still that. At the same time, while we acknowledge that AI has some good capabilities, but in terms of the assessment so far,

00:44 is that it can maybe, if you were to compare AI preparing a report versus a human, AI can maybe get it to about 60%. That's the equivalent.

00:54 But there will be a lot of loopholes, a lot of shortcomings, which can only be filled by the human mind.

01:01 So, I think, especially when it comes to this reportage, then there's analysis, and you have many different disciplines in journalism.

01:13 So, we cannot yet replace these specializations with something like AI. They can help reduce some of the workload.

01:22 So, I think one of the things that I would recommend MPI to do, actually, is a course on how AI can assist journalists.

01:30 I would like to ask MPI colleagues, if there is not yet a module specifically on the use of AI for the benefit of media.

01:42 There are a few things, but it is important for media to know, not only to produce content, but also to identify, for example, deepfakes.

01:54 And this is a fraud that misuses content, uses AI to spread fake news.

02:04 So, I hope in the near future, we can have a module that can attract media to investigate and follow it.

02:15 Thank you.

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