Like the political, constitutional, industrial and social structures of the country, the media sector also needs a deep review, self-examination and reform. The flood of 'misinformation' and 'disinformation' has made the sensitive role of credible, responsible and accountable journalism even more necessary. In this context, Kantipur has started a debate series to give special place to criticism, critique, review and suggestions. We are waiting for the participation of stakeholders and experts in an objective and responsible debate.

Artificial intelligence is a collection of ideas, technologies, and skills related to the ability of a computer system to perform tasks that require human intelligence. 

Journalists and media organizations use artificial intelligence to make journalism more effective or to provide news consumers with access to more relevant news content through the algorithmic (algorithm) and automated (automation) methods of information technology. Nowadays, thousands of ‘GPT software’ or tools of various natures and purposes are in use, which can instantly and easily perform activities in the journalism profession—especially news writing, language translation, manuscript editing, photo production, diagram creation, data analysis, summarization, headline selection, caption writing, news reading, program operation, etc. 

After ChatGPT became widely available in November 2022, It is well known that artificial intelligence is creating waves in almost all professions, including journalism. How to deal with the new challenges posed by AI? Institutionalized professions such as journalism, while embracing traditional values, have continued to discuss and debate on this topic. This article is part of that series. 

AI: Hope and Fear Together 

American author Langdon Wiener used the term ‘technological somnambulist’ in his book ‘The Whale and the Reactor’, published in 1986. It means blindly accepting any new technology. We accept any new technology based on the immediate benefits it offers without further thought and face the serious challenges it creates over time.  The indiscriminate use of AI technology in the field of journalism is, as Wiener puts it, a form of ‘technological somnambulist’. The reason for this is the increasing operating costs of media organizations. On the one hand, the same news content has to be produced in a way that is useful to most users in multimedia. On the other hand, the advertisements they traditionally receive are gradually being hijacked by digital platforms like Google, Facebook, and Instagram.

Due to such decreasing income and increasing expenses, media organizations have to welcome AI tools like ChatGPT with a closed eye. Because they help in collecting news, writing, translating, editing, converting it into multimedia, and distributing news to target consumers 24 hours a day at low cost. Now, what kind of far-reaching impact will the use of AI have on the journalism profession? Many do not have the time to calculate it or get involved in it. 

As a result, the rise of generative AI has put journalists' jobs in jeopardy all over the world. For example, in the last month of June, 'Business Insider', published in the US, cut 21 percent of its jobs. Since 2023, more than 10,000 journalists have been permanently laid off from journalism organizations in Europe and the United States alone. In Nepal, job opportunities for journalists have shrunk unannounced. Similarly, relying solely on AI tools risks jeopardizing journalism. Several studies have shown that the use of AI reduces the activity and creativity of journalists. In addition, over-reliance on AI tools has led to problems such as the publication of anti-social content. AI tools have led to a flood of fake news, deep lies, or 'deepfakes', and unsourced information. Last year, a study by the Reuters Institute reported that a majority of readers around the world are skeptical of news due to AI. The context of these studies shows that AI is important in the journalism profession, but it is not a challenge-free option. However, since AI is a general-purpose technology, like electricity or the Internet, it has become impossible for most professions, including journalism, to move forward by stopping, controlling, or sidelining it.

By the end of 2025, the journalism sector has agreed on two things – first, the use of AI can increase the speed of journalism, reduce costs, but cannot replace the entire profession. Second, it cannot be stopped or controlled due to the fear of new challenges that AI can create.  Global use and debate As soon as the use and usefulness of generative AI was known, new uses were made in journalism. For example,

There are many automated websites like news gpt.ai , which are promoting themselves as ‘human-bias-free news’. No body is visible on the surface to take responsibility for the mistakes they make. AI newsreaders and program hosts were created on various televisions around the world, who started running news and other programs around the clock. For example, Indonesia's first AI news anchor Bhumi, India's AI news anchor Sana, China's news anchor Xia Jiamong, Russia's weather reporter Nejana Tumanova, etc. Similarly, television stations in India and Pakistan created AI-avatars of real news presenters, making it impossible to distinguish which is the real presenter and which is a reflection. Anjana Omkashyap of 'Aaj Tak' TV and Dr. Keizer of 'Discover Pakistan' TV are still being debated whether the AI-avatar of 'Aaj Tak' TV is the right use in the ethical field of journalism or not. A financial online called 'Senator ', run from New York, USA, has been secretly publishing news using AI chatbots since November 2022, as soon as ChatGPT was made public. That incident came to light. After that, the Senate not only apologized publicly, but also started publishing news with double bylines as chatbot correspondents and experienced journalists and editors working there.

In addition, for more transparency, at the end of each news item, it began to include the information that ‘This news item was written by an AI chatbot and was published only after it was thoroughly edited by the organization’s journalists.’ Nowadays, such AI-human co-authorship has been followed by ‘

Business Insider

’ and ‘Fortune’ magazine. Media organizations such as ‘

The New York Times ’ have used captions for AI-generated images or diagrams. America’s ‘ Los Angeles Times

’ has started putting news comments in a box called ‘AI Analysis’. In addition, if there is any political opinion or comment, it has also started putting counter-comments and a rating scale along with it. 

Currently, major news organizations in the world have created AI chatbots and asked them to write informative news based on data. These chatbots provide the news the reader is looking for, provide information about the related media organization, provide links or summaries of previously published materials, and provide institutionally official information on other questions of the reader. For example, Heliograph of The Washington Post writes news about short information based on data, such as sports or election updates, writes news about natural disasters such as earthquakes or hurricanes, helps find old information. Helps analyze data. In addition, ‘Ask FT’ of the UK’s ‘Financial Times’, ‘Ri’ of the Philippines’ ‘Rappler’ magazine, ‘Adelaide Chat’ of ‘Forbes’ magazine, etc. are also in use. These are not ordinary AI agents, but chatbots prepared by the organization at its own expense, which work much more reliably than other AI agents.  The world's major media organizations have already formulated policies on the use of AI and are also revising them from time to time. The world's largest news agency, '

The Associated Press ', has included points in its AI policy such as allowing the use of AI chatbots like ChatGPT, but treating every content from there as unverified information, making fact-checking and editorial monitoring of every piece of information mandatory, not allowing photo-video-audio to be modified using AI, and providing clear information in the caption if AI-generated images are used. ' BBC '' ‘ Reuters ’ has stated that AI can be used as a supporting tool in news gathering, editing and production. It is said that if any AI-generated content is used, it will be disclosed to the reader with context and information about the extent to which AI has been used. 

The above-mentioned institutional policies seem to have assimilated the 10-point guiding principles set out in the ‘

Paris Declaration on AI and Journalism

’. This declaration was jointly issued by the world’s largest 16 media organizations under the leadership of ‘Reporters Without Borders’ on November 10, 2023. The declaration emphasizes the fundamental issues that ‘the choice of technology should be guided by ethics, there should be human intervention in editorial decisions, the media should help distinguish between factual and artificial content, and the media should speak out strongly for the survival and professionalism of journalism.’  000 Paris Declaration on AI and Journalism-2024

1. Journalistic ethics guide the way media and journalists use technology. 2. Media should prioritize human capabilities. 3. AI systems used in journalism should be independently evaluated before being used. 4. Media should always be responsible for the content they publish. 5. Media should maintain transparency when using AI.

6. Media should ensure the origin and traceability of news content. 7. Journalism should draw a clear line between official and artificial news content. 8. AI-powered content personalization and recommendations should preserve the diversity and integrity of information.

9. Journalists, media outlets and journalism support groups should engage in AI governance.

10. Journalism should maintain its ethical and economic foundations in its engagement with AI institutions. (Translation: Author)

000

Use of AI in Nepali Journalism

Compared to the global activities on the use of AI mentioned above, the discussions, training and exercises on AI and journalism taking place in Nepal are very inadequate. However, the ‘

National AI Policy-2082

’ was made public last Bhadra on how to use and regulate AI legally. The objective of this AI policy, which the Nepali media has described as

ambitious

, is to use AI ethically and safely, promote digital transformation in various sectors including journalism, and support economic growth. In line with this policy, the Ministry of Communications has recently established the AI ​​Center. Apart from this policy, no other legal or ethical documents have been formulated to regulate AI. 

The use of AI in Nepali newsrooms is increasing informally rather than formally. Some news organizations like ‘Kantipur’, ‘Online Khabar’, ‘Ratopati’ have used AI in translating, analyzing or summarizing news. However, they too have not made public a declared policy on the use of AI. Since the current journalistic code of conduct is not up-to-date on regulating the use of AI, most journalists and news organizations have done as they please. They have not publicly informed the readers about the use of AI tools. Such a trend further exacerbates the situation in the journalism profession.

For almost a year, a limited number of media organizations have started formulating and making public a policy on the use of AI in journalism. The ‘AI Policy’ issued by ‘Nepali Radio Network’ on the occasion of World Radio Day on 1 Falgun, includes issues such as the use of AI should be correct, responsible and reliable, and the user (individual or organization) should take responsibility for mistakes. ‘

e-barahi.com

’, run from Tanahun, has issued an ‘AI Usage Policy’ on 16th Jestha for its institutional purposes, which includes a self-declaration on how to use AI in what situations. Similarly, the ‘

AI Guideline

’ of ‘Nepalnews.com’, updated last Bhadra, mentions issues such as editorial supremacy, human oversight, transparency, and fair use.  However, no media organization in Nepal has invested in creating AI-avatars or their own specialized chatbots. Most of our media organizations have very small investments. In a country where the share of media that survives on government money is large, there is a natural lack of media investing in AI. The potential that AI can play is sure to be further pushed back by lack of investment, lack of law, lack of code of conduct, etc. Preliminary outline of ethical use Although the term ‘new media’ is used in the Code of Conduct for Journalists of Nepal-2073

(First Amendment-2076), it refers only to the Internet and social media, and does not include AI. Therefore, without delay, an attempt can be made to add a clause to the current ‘Code of Conduct for Journalists’ and include the following points in accordance with the spirit of the ‘Paris Declaration’, thereby regulating the use of AI in journalism. In addition, each news organization can be asked to develop its own AI policies in line with the ‘Code of Conduct for Journalists’ and post them on its website or publicly.

Transparency: News content (such as news, articles, photos, drawings, video avatars, etc.) that uses AI should clearly state that it was ‘prepared with the help of such and such AI’ so that news consumers are not misled. The ‘prompts’ used during production will be kept safe for a certain period.  Editorial freedom and oversight: Make journalistic discretion, editorial freedom, and oversight mandatory in any AI-generated content. Fact-check and source verification will be conducted on every such content, and only publish and broadcast it after a human journalist has determined that it is error-free.  Fact-verification:

Accept AI-generated content only as preliminary information. Since such content may lack originality, contain errors, or contain biased interpretations, human journalists will publish and broadcast it only after confirming the truth of the news. 

Discouraging gross lying:

Prohibit the use of real human avatars or voices. Make provisions that the copyright of any person’s appearance and voice is deemed to belong to the person concerned.  Responsibility: Any organization should take responsibility for errors in AI-generated content and bear legal, financial or other liability for errors. 

Priority to journalism: No matter how advanced or miraculous the technology is, it should not compromise the eternal values ​​of journalism when using it, such as: seeking the truth, minimizing harm, working independently, and being accountable and transparent.

Context: Provide information about the content produced with the help of AI along with the context. Provide information about which AI tools have been used and to what extent. 

Conclusion Since the historical development of journalism, it has been moving hand in hand with technology. No matter how much AI has increased the fear in journalism now, there is still more room for hope for it. That is why all the big and small media in the world are eager to use AI. Nowadays, AI has been given top priority in every phase of journalism, in every content, in every debate. 

One of the most important tasks of journalism is to hold power and authority accountable. No AI chatbot or machine can fulfill such a profound role. This requires journalists with an alert, fearless, and critical mind. However, if AI technology is used carefully and responsibly, it will definitely help in increasing the quality of journalism. In an article titled ‘ How Generative AI is Changing the Jobs of Journalists

’, Bernard Marr writes, ‘Journalists are the most at risk, but two-thirds of readers still want to read, listen to, or watch news written by humans.’ A study conducted by the Pew Research Center

in April found that ‘most Americans trust professional journalists more than AI-generated news.’ In India, television viewers

found artificial AI avatars to be mechanical and boring. These studies reaffirm the role of journalists and journalism in providing factual news.  AI can help make capable journalists more capable, but it will not save the jobs of lazy or incompetent journalists. It is necessary for all stakeholders to take immediate steps to raise awareness about the use of AI technology in journalism, discourage its misuse, and make it a tool for social responsibility. It is a shame that the code of conduct for Nepali journalists has not yet included a policy on the use of AI.