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‘Responsible AI Futures’ Hybrid Seminar Series – Dr Bronwyn Jones
March 14 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
What’s new in news? How AI is impacting journalism
The use of AI systems in newsrooms and across society is shifting the terrain in which journalism operates and changing what it means to make and consume news. We’re recommended personalised articles based on datafied readings of our behaviour, while our clicks drive analytics that shape editorial decisions about what to report. Deepfakes and mis- and dis-information creep into our social news feeds and pose increasingly intractable verification challenges for journalists. From monitoring online sources, to transcribing interviews and processing data for investigations, AI-driven automation of rote tasks has become commonplace. However as news organisations rapidly adopt generative AI, they are increasingly delegating core processes of communication and meaning making to machines. In this talk, Bronwyn weaves together three strands of her current work which spans practice, research, and policy. She asks: what happens if we co-write the ‘first draft of history’ with AI? If we semi-automate this ‘cornerstone of democracy’? And how might we innovate responsibly with AI for journalism in the public interest?
Bio
Dr Bronwyn Jones is a social scientist and journalist. As a Translational Fellow for the Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) programme, she researches artificial intelligence and data-driven technologies in news production and their implications for the public sphere in democracies. As a DCMS Policy Fellow, she is exploring the risks generative AI poses for journalism as an industry and form of knowledge production. At the BBC, she covers regional news online and works with the research and development department to help newsrooms navigate technological change. Bronwyn is focused on fostering fruitful collaboration and translation between academia and industry; she works to ensure theory and evidence inform the development of public interest-driven socio-technical systems in the media industry, and on-the-ground realities inform scholarly debate.
X – @bronwynjo