AI and News: Where are we Heading?

Understanding what is happening around the world is getting increasingly difficult and emotionally draining. Why is that? Does it have to be?

Being up-to-date is daunting

In today's fast-paced world, being up-to-date with current events is crucial for making smart choices and being an active member of society. Getting this information, especially through news, doesn't just help individuals make wise decisions but also strengthens community discussions and actions.

However, finding reliable and unbiased news has become quite a puzzle. Gone are the days of simply reading the newspaper or watching the evening news on TV. Now, we are constantly bombarded with a flood of information online, and figuring out what's true amid all the exaggerated or outright false content can be really tricky.

We can't talk about modern communication without mentioning social media and Artificial Intelligence (AI). These powerful tools have changed how news is shared, often prioritizing exciting and clickable content over honest journalism to get more clicks and ad revenue. With AI stepping into the mix, there's a risk it could be used to spread misinformation even more efficiently, swaying public opinion with startling effectiveness.

The Decline of Informative Journalism

Journalism in the mid-20th century, often considered a golden era, was firmly committed to accuracy, objectivity, and serving the public. Journalists focused on providing unbiased and true information, helping citizens make informed decisions. The Watergate scandal is a prime example of this period, with reporters diligently uncovering the truth despite risks.

However, with the rise of the digital age, journalism significantly changed, moving from its solid informative principles to a focus on clickbait and sensationalism. This shift meant headlines became punchier, stories more emotionally charged, and content was shortened for quick reading, all while subtly reducing ethical standards.

Social media played a big role in speeding up this decline. These platforms created an environment where content needed to go viral to be deemed successful, which encouraged a style of journalism that tapped into emotional, often polarizing narratives. Social media’s short-lived content and algorithms that promote high-engagement material also created a space where detailed, unbiased reporting was overshadowed by content designed to quickly attract and spread.

This change is tied to the economic model of digital content creation, which is heavily reliant on advertising revenue, clicks, and engagement. With ad placement becoming crucial for the financial survival of online journalism, media outlets became trapped in a cycle where engaging viewers meant survival, thus fostering a space for sensational, clickable content

The Emotional Toll of Sensationalized News

The proliferation of sensationalized news exerts a tangible impact on its consumer base, threading into the collective psyche an undercurrent of emotional duress. Outrage, fear, and polarized indignation, staples of sensational content, solicit immediate, visceral responses from readers. This emotional rollercoaster, perpetually fuelled by the next inflammatory headline, initiates a cascade of psychological and societal consequences.

Inundated by a ceaseless tide of emotionally charged, often disconcerting content, consumers gradually exhibit signs of news fatigue, a phenomenon characterized by both a psychological desensitization to new information and a pervasive, insidious burnout. Engaging with the news, once a routine act of civic responsibility, mutates into an emotionally taxing endeavor, prompting individuals to disengage, consciously or subconsciously, from the informational torrent.

Such collective tuning out, however, does not unfold in isolation. The withdrawal from active news consumption undermines the foundational pillars of democratic societies, which rest, fundamentally, on an informed, engaged citizenry. The vacuum left by disengagement erodes the public's ability to make educated voting decisions, scrutinize governmental actions, and participate meaningfully in civic discourse and action.

For instance, data from numerous studies underscore this narrative, revealing a concerning trajectory wherein emotional outrage has not only dampened public discourse but, at times, actively shaped it. Events such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which spotlighted the meticulous crafting of outrage-driven, hyper-partisan Facebook ads, or instances of viral, misinformation-laden Twitter threads inciting public fear and divisiveness, exemplify scenarios where manipulated emotional outrage steered the societal conversation, often with deleterious consequences.

The Dark Side of AI in News Production and Consumption

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can analyze, create, and spread content in ways that add new challenges to how we produce and consume news. While it can offer innovative ways to share information, its potential misuse also poses significant risks to today’s media world. Particularly, AI can create very believable fake content, making it even harder to figure out what news is true and credible.

Diving deeper, AI-generated fake news and deepfakes are especially tricky problems. With algorithms that can mimic real articles and create realistic-looking videos, AI can make up events, speeches, or situations that seem incredibly real. This can damage reputations, cause undeserved public anger, change political scenes, and even threaten national security. Examples of deepfakes damaging political figures' public images or AI-written articles spreading false, divisive stories are already happening, signaling a concerning trend.

This harmful use of AI is a clear danger to truthful journalism and overall information accuracy available to the public. News organizations, already struggling with issues previously discussed, now have to battle not just the appeal of clickbait but also the subtle creep of AI-manipulated content. In a situation where false stories can be spread by both people and algorithms, the waters of information accuracy get even muddier, further weakening public trust and making the already shaky relationship between news providers and consumers even more unstable.

Can AI be the solution?

AI, which doesn’t have its own morals or ethics, is a tool that can be used for good or bad, depending on who's using it. It can be used to create misleading content or to positively change how we produce and consume news. So, the big question is: can we use AI to make getting reliable information easier and more straightforward?

This is what we are trying to build at Tailor, the startup I co-founded. It’s the early days, but you can sign up for free here. Let us know what you think!