At the beginning of 2017, a robot designed by Wan Xiaojun, a professor of computer science from Peking University, and his team was put into use by the Southern Urban Daily to write daily reports, changing the assumption that robots are only used to write statistics-based news in finance and sports.

“The seats have been sold out and the remaining tickets are all for standing room. Passengers who did not get a seat might face an uncomfortable trip.” These words are from the first piece of news written by a journalism robot of the Southern Urban Daily. Thanks to a massive quantity of data and efficient algorithms, the first piece of work on Spring Festival travel totaled 300 words and was generated within a second.

Compared with most robots applied in writing news based on numbers, such as sports and financial news, the aforementioned robot reports more complicated daily news. Wan Xiaojun, a professor from the Institute of Computer Science and Technology at Peking University and the team leader in charge of the technological development of the robot, said training it is no easy work. Unlike sports and financial news, which have established template, daily reports covers a wide range of topics and thus lacks material for training. 

Advanced tool

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already in use in media around the world. As early as 2015, the internet company Tencent issued a report written by a robot, which could send important information and analysis to users within a minute. In March 2016, a robot used by a Republic of Korean newspaper office generated a news report on the stock market in 0.3 seconds.

In light of this, Kuang Wenbo, a professor from the School of Journalism and Communication at Renmin University of China, said the journalism robots are “hard-working,” and could save labor costs. These AI robots can be seen as a “personal tailor” because they write news on the requirements of each user at an incomparable speed. 

“Although the robots are fast, efficient, and can generate multiple versions of news drafts, they are not flawless in practice,” said Shen Yang, a professor from the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University. He added that robots might make common mistakes, revealing the necessity of manual proofreading. Facing the fast developing AI technology, we have to show more confidence in the value of humans. Compared with journalism robots, humans are best at judging facts and reasoning when there are complicated logical relationships. Creation and innovation are also lacking in the robots.

Explorative and personalized drafts full of academic ideas can only be accomplished by humans, said Cai Shangwei, a professor from the College of Literature and Journalism at Sichuan University. “Because robots are programmed, they are an advanced tool to replace some links in human works. Being a tool is their basic feature” he said. 

Bringing vitality

AI is penetrating various fields, such as politics, economics, education and academia. In terms of media, AI may construct new media environments mainly by transforming the methods of news production and demonstration. It also innovates communication technology and integrates all types of media.

The Development Plan of the New Generation of Artificial Intelligence issued in July 8, 2017 by the State Council proposed the guiding principles, strategic purposes, critical tasks and safeguards for the new generation of AI development in 2030. 

Shen said the introduction of the plan also puts forward requirements for the smart development of journalism. First, as for the transformation of the journalism industry, advanced technology is needed. For example, both big data and AI should be emphasized in the process of media integration. Second is to build more strategic libraries and knowledge bases. Third is to build a stronger AI analysis engine.

Cai said AI brings new vitality to the news industry, together with enlightenment to news practitioners in their state of mind, working ethics and workflow. Thus they could work using the abilities that could not be replaced by machines in the AI age.

Upgrade ability

Shen suggested that as it faces threats from new technologies, the journalism industry should be innovation-oriented. Journalists have to preserve valuable experience that stands the test of time and emphasize the quality of news. Advancement in technology is necessary, but an upgrade in journalism ability is more crucial, Shen said.

“The ability to innovate makes an outstanding journalist in the AI age,” Kuang said. In the future, one essential aspect of human imagination and innovation is an ability that cannot be replicated by AI. AI in fact provides a chance for human journalists to improve themselves. Each member of the media could gain a more in-depth understanding of the news industry, the channels by which humans access information, and the nature of human thinking, together with deepened exploration of humanities in AI application, making AI better utilized for humans.