How AI could improve local news and save regional journalists time

Consider the well-worn route to the nearest shops, the familiar faces at the local pub or school gate, the tried and tested recipe the whole family loves, or the comfort of knowing where the sun will hit the curtains at dawn in summer.

The simple, daily moments that add up to a lifetime of experience are immeasurable.

But technology has made them easier.

Now we can type in a location to a digital map and it will steer us to our destination, alerting us to traffic snarls and roadworks on the way.

We can message fellow parents in a group chat letting them know we're running late for school pick up and google meal ideas.

We can check the weather forecast on an app and find the precise time the sun will rise on Saturday.

But just as we were making peace with a device-driven world, generative artificial intelligence (AI) exploded into our lives.

A year on from ChatGPT being released in the wild, authorities are grappling with the rapid uptake of AI chatbots by school and uni students to research and complete assignments.

Office workers are using AI to write emails and sort data for them, teenagers are talking to AI chatbots inside social media platforms like Snapchat, AI-generated images are fuelling misinformation, and there's a fierce race by the global tech giants to dominate the market and make squillions.

Multiple public inquiries under way around Australia are examining how generative AI will affect health services, education, banking, employment, and our way of life.

US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order aimed at managing the risks and the European Union (EU) is scrambling to regulate the biggest disruption since the advent of computers and the internet.

So what does all this mean for your local community, daily routines, and all the people you cherish?

I recently returned from a trip to Silicon Valley in the US for ACM, the publisher of the masthead you're reading, to find out how AI will change how we get news and information.

And I came away with a few key thoughts.

As local news outlets, we know your towns, cities and regions as well as you.

We cover the new shops and restaurants opening, the crimes that lurk in the darkness, the council decisions that affect roads and businesses, the footy team triumphs, and the natural disasters like floods and bushfires that eviscerate history and shape the future.

We keep you informed and connected with one another. And we can't afford to be left behind as generative AI sweeps the world.

ACM is at the forefront of the AI change in news. We are starting to experiment to help save our journalists, photographers and editors time so they can spend longer with you out in the community.

Right now, generative AI is helping our newsrooms to get ideas so you can find our stories more easily in search engines like Google.

We're testing ways of finding information more quickly, automating repetitive tasks, and turning our written stories into new formats so we can keep you informed, not only on our websites and in our papers, but on social media and other platforms too.

Generative AI cannot - and should not - replace the local journalism you rely on.

That's because we know our cities and communities. And we know our readers rely on us to provide news and information that is accurate and trustworthy.

Journalism is not data; it's knowledge, as one person in San Francisco said on our tour.

But AI could make the news we produce better and it could make it easier to deliver.

And we want to take this journey with you, our readers. We're learning as we go and we're treading the path cautiously because it's also scary and big and unsettling.

We're committed to approaching generative AI ethically, responsibly and transparently.

ACM already has an AI code of conduct for all its staff so you can trust what you read. And we've established an internal working group to help investigate the risks and what's possible.

We'll be asking what you think about AI in the next Heartbeat of Australia survey too.

I've worked in news for more than 20 years and I'm passionate about ensuring everyone has access to trustworthy, reliable, factual information, especially about their local communities.

Generative AI is here whether we like it or not and, if it can help sustain that mission, we should (carefully) harness it.

Saffron Howden is ACM's national editorial trainer and leads its AI working group.