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Musaazi NAMITI | Media Literacy
AI is being used everywhere in writing: emails, social media posts, WhatsApp messages, business correspondence, employment contracts, etc.
But when journalists use it for writing stories, it raises questions as to whether they are doing the right thing, whether they are following journalism ethics, especially when they do not disclose to their audiences that AI has been used.
Ugandan news outlets have not made their AI policies vis-a-vis editorial operations public, at least not on their websites. Journalists at many outlets continue to use AI for writing and present news stories, features, opinions and commentary written by AI chatbots as their own work.
Some journalists have justified the use of AI for writing by arguing that they double-check and verify whatever AI generates. Others view AI in the same way writers view spellcheckers.
However, audiences in many places read stories confident in the knowledge that journalists wrote them. A reporter’s choice of words is based on the facts they have gathered in the course of reporting. If they let AI chatbots write for them while expecting readers to spend time reading articles, it means they do not have respect for the readers’ time.
So how do readers need to know that a media organisation is using AI properly and in a transparent manner?
The news outlet has to tell its audiences how AI is used. Many well-established outlets use AI as an assistant, not as a journalist. When AI is used for writing, it means it has assumed the role of a journalist.
Journalists, not machines, have written stories for their audiences since time immemorial. Consequently, AI should help with routine tasks like transcribing interviews, summarising long documents, researching stories, creating apps that help journalists work faster, etc.
Journalists cannot expect their audiences to know how they use AI until they have shared information about their AI guidelines and editorial policies.
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Many well-established news outlets have restricted writing to human journalists, and those who use AI-generated text and do not tell their editors can have their contracts terminated.
Some outlets, such as the Globe and Mail, one of Canada’s major newspapers, do not even allow their journalists to use AI to check grammar.
“The use of generative AI for writing or editing your work is strictly prohibited,” the paper writes in its AI guidelines to freelancers, which are also followed by staff writers.
“This includes everything from grammar and style revisions to structural rewrites and condensing drafts to meet a word count.
“A good practical guideline: any workflow that involves using an AI tool with a draft—for example copying text into or out of a chatbot—would be prohibited.”
The paper also explains how it checks stories written by freelancers to ensure they have not used AI. This has reassured readers because they know every article they read in the Globe has been written by humans.
If there is any lesson to be drawn from the Globe’s policy, it is that audiences know whether they are consuming journalism produced by humans or AI if a media outlet tells them.
It is not too late for Ugandan outlets to follow suit. But some may not see any compelling reasons to adopt AI policies because there are no consequences to suffer. Many readers assume the news they consume is written by journalists.
Some journalists want to take credit for work done by AI, especially if it is going to earn them paise. They would be reluctant to disclose AI use. But outlets that are upfront about how AI is used in their editorial work and it is not used will ultimately build more trust than those that say nothing and leave their audiences to guess.
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