Does artificial intelligence replace news gathering and editing? This German media has started... German Bild | News editor | Artificial intelligence

Release time:Apr 13, 2024 22:34 PM

According to reports, in order to strengthen competitiveness in the era of intelligence, the best-selling German newspaper Bild plans to replace a series of editing jobs with artificial intelligence technology, which may mean hundreds of people being laid off. Currently, multiple European media outlets are exploring the application of artificial intelligence technology in the media field, but there is also controversy.

Media ushers in an AI wave

According to Frankfurt Report, a competitor of Bild, Axel Springer, the publisher of Bild, has sent an email to its employees, signed by the editor in chief and four other executives.

The email stated that "Bilbao" will "regretfully bid farewell to some colleagues. In the digital world, their tasks will be completed by artificial intelligence, automated processes... The traditional roles of editors, print production personnel, proofreaders, and photo editors will no longer exist."

It is reported that the relevant plan is expected to be implemented next month, which may mean that nearly 200 people have been laid off, accounting for one-third of the total staff of the newspaper. In the future, Axel Springer's flagship daily newspaper, The World, may also take similar measures. Another report suggests that Bild does not want to force layoffs and may take alternative measures such as salary cuts.

This can be said to be the latest move by Pictorial to transform from print media to digital news media. With the advent of the artificial intelligence era, Axel Springer had already issued a warning.

At the beginning of this year, Matthias Dofner, CEO of Axel Springer, stated that Axel Springer will be transitioning towards a "pure digital media company". In the near future, the outside world will see a new understanding of the company's high-quality news in the digital age.

At that time, the chatbot ChatGPT was starting to become popular. Dofner predicts that artificial intelligence will soon outperform editors in terms of information aggregation. At that time, only publishing institutions that create the "best original content" such as excellent investigative news and original comments can survive.

Afterwards, the relevant plans were gradually implemented. Earlier this month, Reuters reported, citing internal sources, that Axel Springer will establish a dedicated team to focus on artificial intelligence mergers and acquisitions.

Recently, the rise of artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT seems to have the potential to replace human intelligence. With just a simple prompt from the user, these robots can generate more complex texts, from prose to poetry, to novels... without a problem.

In this context, Axel Springer is not the first media organization to focus on artificial intelligence. BuzzFeed, the American online news media, announced this year that it aims to use artificial intelligence to "enhance" content and other services. In the UK, the Daily Mirror and Daily Express are also exploring the application of artificial intelligence.

However, at the same time, there is controversy surrounding the use of artificial intelligence to generate news. The answers given by such robots may not only be incorrect, but may even be fabricated.

It is reported that the US technology news website CNET has started using artificial intelligence to write reports and has its accuracy reviewed by manual editors. But there are reports that over half of the articles must be revised. CNET acknowledged in January this year that the project has limitations.

For example, in April this year, the German magazine Die Aktuelle used artificial intelligence to generate an interview with "car king" Michael Schumacher. However, Schumacher has not made a public appearance since a serious skull injury caused by a skiing accident in 2013. This "interview" caused widespread controversy and dissatisfaction among the Schumacher family, and the magazine publisher subsequently apologized and dismissed the relevant editors.

Small newspapers face years of difficulties

In addition to the wave of artificial intelligence, Bilbao has also faced several other opportunities and challenges in recent years.

It is reported that Bild is one of the best-selling newspapers in Europe and currently has many app users, which has a certain influence. But the daily newspaper is also labeled as a tabloid, sometimes publishing eye-catching and highly politicized reports.

Its publisher Axel Springer is a large media publishing institution in Europe, with a major shareholder being international private equity giant KKR. Axel Springer's decisions were also influenced by KKR.

After acquiring the US news website Business Insider for nearly $400 million in 2015, Axel Springer spent over $1 billion in 2021 to acquire the US news website Politburo, expanding the company's footprint across the Atlantic.

However, like many traditional media, Pictorial also faces the dilemma of declining readership. It is reported that the sales of this newspaper have decreased from over 4.5 million copies 20 years ago to over 1 million copies last year.

To make matters worse, the reputation of this paper media has been hit by multiple scandals. At the beginning of 2021, there were reports that several female employees of Bild complained about the newspaper's editor in chief Julian Reichert's abuse of power, coercion, or bullying of others, while Axel Springer turned a blind eye. In the end, Reichert was dismissed amidst controversy, and the aftermath of the scandal has yet to dissipate.

Earlier this year, leaked information showed that Dofner had attempted to use Bild to influence the previous German election, including conveying his personal views to the newspaper on climate change, anti epidemic measures, and former Chancellor Merkel. Dofner had to apologize later.

In this context, Pictorial has entered the stage of transformation and reform, taking measures such as streamlining and restructuring the leadership team.

At the beginning of this year, Dofner announced Axel Springer's transformation strategy, saying, "Profitability is not everything, but without it, everything will no longer exist.".

One of Axel Springer's major goals in implementing the "pure digital" strategy this time is to increase revenue by 100 million euros in the next three years and achieve over 20 million daily online visits by 2026 by increasing sales and reducing costs.

In the latest reform plan, in addition to adjusting human resources, measures such as streamlining and restructuring regional businesses are also included.

However, Axel Springer's latest move faces criticism. The German Journalists Association warns that these actions are tantamount to "cutting down the money tree" and are not wise in terms of human resources and economic benefits. In addition, reducing regional coverage means reducing services to readers, which will lead to reader loss.

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