AI summary
Summary of article:
News Corp CEO Townsend stressed that although AI can accelerate research and information collection, it cannot replace human interviewing, judgment and creation, and the journalism industry must still maintain the value of content.
Robert Thomson, CEO of News Corp., parent company of The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), said,artificial intelligence (AI) cannot replace human interview. With the rapid rise of generative AI, the internet is filled with misinformation and unverified content, and human-led journalism is becoming more important.
In an interview with “The Yomiuri Shimbun”, Townsend explained that “the function of journalism is to reflect the present” and that journalists have the responsibility to “write the first article in history”; AI is “retroactive in nature” and cannot mimic human interviewing and reporting.
Townsend described human-verified news content as an indispensable “input data” for training and maintaining AI models. “AI is essentially a sophisticated content delivery network that reuses other people’s content and distributes it in an efficient way,” he said. However, “AI is linear and based entirely on patterns.” In comparison, humans have the ability to think laterally and generate creative ideas.
When it comes to the use of AI in newsrooms, Townsend said that “human participation” is still indispensable, because although AI can improve the efficiency of background information collection and research, how to write and decide which information is important is still the responsibility of the reporter.
Townsend also criticized AI companies that invested heavily in semiconductors, purchasing power, and building data centers, but did not fully compensate content creators. He added that “low-quality content is also harmful to AI in the long run,” so the relationship between content creators and technology companies must change.
In this regard, News Corp adopts a “woo and sue” strategy that combines negotiations and legal action. For companies like OpenAI, Meta, and Google that are willing to negotiate in good faith, they will sign content licensing agreements, as well as file lawsuits against those who appropriate or misuse their news content without permission.
Townsend said that failure to act would “allow a system that harms journalism and society to continue.” He also emphasized that “weakening the traceability of material sources is tantamount to weakening cultural and human understanding.” Therefore, it is important to establish legal precedents that cherish the importance of news.
Summary FAQ
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He believes that AI is naturally biased towards review and model restructuring, and cannot do the work of humans in interviewing, real-time tracking, and judging the importance of news. Therefore, in an environment filled with misinformation, verification and reporting of journalists is more important.
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He considers human-verified news as an important input for training and maintaining AI models. He believes that AI will reuse a large amount of content, so content creators should receive more fair compensation and respect.
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News Corp adopts the so-called “bold and sue” strategy, signing licensing agreements with companies such as OpenAI, Meta and Google that are willing to negotiate, and initiating legal action against those crawling or misusing content without permission.
