Slides for a talk to the Politico newsroom in Brussels about the Polis LSE journalism AI project

1. New powers,
new responsibilities
What can AI technologies do for your
journalism?
Prof Charlie Beckett
Director of Polis, LSE
@CharlieBeckett
Politico, Brussels, March 2020

3. Download the report at:
blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis

4. Artificial Intelligence
A collection of ideas, technologies, and techniques
that relate to a computer system’s capacity to perform
tasks normally requiring human intelligence.
Source: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism

5. What future for AI in news?
How are journalists and news organisations adapting to AI technologies?
What are the challenges and opportunities they present?
What are the financial, ethical, and editorial implications?

6. 71 news organisations from 32 countries
The Journalism AI global survey
Source: The Journalism AI Report

7. Motivations for adopting AI
Source: The Journalism AI Report

8. ➢ News gathering
➢ News production
➢ News distribution
What is AI
for news?

9. A strategy for AI ?
Source: The Journalism AI Report
37% have an AI strategy
63% don’t have an AI strategy

10. Strategic challenges to AI adoption
Source: The Journalism AI Report
Lack of resources & willingness to invest
Lack of skills & challenges in hiring talent
Skepticism towards technology & fear of losing jobs
Cultural issues & gaps between departments
Lack of knowledge & understanding of AI
Lack of strategy and direction

11. 1️⃣ Identify your stage and state of AI readiness
Key steps to approach AI
Source: The Journalism AI Report

12. 1️⃣ Identify your stage and state of AI readiness
2️⃣ Understand the different kind of AI technologies available
Key steps to approach AI
Source: The Journalism AI Report

13. 1️⃣ Identify your stage and state of AI readiness
2️⃣ Understand the different kind of AI technologies available
3️⃣ Reflect on what problems you are trying to solve with AI
Key steps to approach AI
Source: The Journalism AI Report

14. 1️⃣ Identify your stage and state of AI readiness
2️⃣ Understand the different kind of AI technologies available
3️⃣ Reflect on what problems you are trying to solve with AI
4️⃣ Identify what areas of your organisation might be helped by AI and how
Key steps to approach AI
Source: The Journalism AI Report

15. 1️⃣ Identify your stage and state of AI readiness
2️⃣ Understand the different kind of AI technologies available
3️⃣ Reflect on what problems you are trying to solve with AI
4️⃣ Identify what areas of your organisation might be helped by AI and how
5️⃣ Identify key obstacles and plan how to address them in a systematic way
Key steps to approach AI
Source: The Journalism AI Report

16. 1️⃣ Identify your stage and state of AI readiness
2️⃣ Understand the different kind of AI technologies available
3️⃣ Reflect on what problems you are trying to solve with AI
4️⃣ Identify what areas of your organisation might be helped by AI and how
5️⃣ Identify key obstacles and plan how to address them in a systematic way
6️⃣ Establish clear roles and responsibilities across the organisation
Key steps to approach AI
Source: The Journalism AI Report

17. 1️⃣ Identify your stage and state of AI readiness
2️⃣ Understand the different kind of AI technologies available
3️⃣ Reflect on what problems you are trying to solve with AI
4️⃣ Identify what areas of your organisation might be helped by AI and how
5️⃣ Identify key obstacles and plan how to address them in a systematic way
6️⃣ Establish clear roles and responsibilities across the organisation
7️⃣ Pick one or more projects to experiment with and start small
Key steps to approach AI
Source: The Journalism AI Report

18. Predicting the success of content with AI
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2020/02/18/predicting-the-success-of-news-
content/

19. Editorial & Ethical implications
Source: The Journalism AI Report
⚠️ Savings or investments ?

20. Editorial & Ethical implications
Source: The Journalism AI Report
⚠️ Savings or investments ?
⚠️ Misinformation

21. Editorial & Ethical implications
Source: The Journalism AI Report
⚠️ Savings or investments ?
⚠️ Misinformation
⚠️ Artificial vs Human intelligence

22. Editorial & Ethical implications
Source: The Journalism AI Report
⚠️ Savings or investments ? ⚠️ Algorithmic bias
⚠️ Misinformation
⚠️ Artificial vs Human intelligence

23. Editorial & Ethical implications
Source: The Journalism AI Report
⚠️ Savings or investments ? ⚠️ Algorithmic bias
⚠️ Misinformation ⚠️ Transparency
⚠️ Artificial vs Human intelligence

24. Editorial & Ethical implications
Source: The Journalism AI Report
⚠️ Savings or investments ? ⚠️ Algorithmic bias
⚠️ Misinformation ⚠️ Transparency
⚠️ Artificial vs Human intelligence ⚠️ The role of tech companies

25. Thoughts on the way forward
Source: The Journalism AI Report
🔄 Changes to structures and culture

26. Thoughts on the way forward
Source: The Journalism AI Report
🔄 Changes to structures and culture
📖 Need for education and training

27. Thoughts on the way forward
Source: The Journalism AI Report
🔄 Changes to structures and culture
📖 Need for education and training
Potential for collaboration
(between news organisations &
with research institutions)

28. ● https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2019/12/12/7-things-to-consider/

29. What we are doing now
More training courses on specific skills, tools and systems
Collaborative experiment with 20+ news organisations to meet
newsroom challenges
Network of 1000+ journalists around the world

30. Thank You
Prof Charlie Beckett
Director of Polis, LSE
@CharlieBeckett
C.H.Beckett@lse.ac.uk