Artificial intelligence is making its mark on just about every industry. We hear from four industry experts on how best to move forward and leverage it for innovation
Words by Katie Kasperson
W hile it’s been top of mind for years, it seems like artificial intelligence has finally hit a critical juncture. Companies are considering how and when to use it – but use it they feel they must, even if merely to keep pace with whatever industry they belong to. A contentious topic in the latest SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, AI feels most threatening to the creative fields (journalism most certainly included), and with recent waves of layoffs at companies like CNN, NBC News, ABC News and Fox Entertainment, it’s easy to understand all this existential dread. Advancements in AI present exciting business opportunities and infinite potential for innovation. With technological evolution always comes uncertainty and perhaps an exaggerated fear of the unknown. It also reveals lots of new moral dilemmas, the likes of which we’re wrestling with in real time. We’re also witnessing a surge in both public and private discussions about AI, and it’s these very conversations that will shape how we ultimately adapt to it. In the interest of healthy debate, we invited input from tech employees and broadcast journalists on the risks and rewards of incorporating AI. What follows is largely agreement from both sides, reassuring us that the ethical considerations around the use of AI seem to be of exceptional importance to everyone.
Transformational impact AI – artificial intelligence – can be difficult to define. It often conjures up distinct meanings for different people. Across the board, though, there appears to be a consensus: it holds the potential to transform how we work, consume information and interact with the world around us. “This year, AI has taken significant strides towards becoming an integral part of our professional and personal lives,” begins CGI vice president Michael Pfitzner. “While apocalyptic predictions about its impact are unlikely to materialise any time soon, one thing is clear: AI will profoundly reshape our world, and at a rapid pace. It will be much like electricity, mobile phones, microcomputers and the internet once did, but on an even greater scale.” Myriam Samake, multimedia journalist at KTAL NBC 6 News, shares Pfitzner’s positivity. “AI is fascinating,” she states. “I feel as though we were told AI would happen when I was a kid, and now it’s here,” she says, acknowledging that she – like almost everyone alive today – ‘got to live in a world without AI too’. Samake, while excited about AI, suggests that it does have a dark side. Tyler Soso, Emmy Award- winning associate producer at the MLB Network, shares this nuanced perspective. “Today’s AI comes in several forms, so it’s hard to be fully for or against it, as I’ve seen both positives and negatives in its use,” he shares, mentioning misinformation as a potential drawback. “While AI can be an extremely useful tool in research and knowledge-gathering, I also believe that, in some ways, it is doing more harm than good.”
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