[The Editors' Verdict] AI and the Media: Between Opportunity and Crisis

80% of Media Outlets Expect Expanded Use of AI
Concerns Over Emerging Ethical Issues
Media Pushed to Innovate Faces Another Test

Im Cheol-yeong, Head of Strategic Planning Team

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has become a ‘constant’ in predicting the future. Since the emergence of ‘ChatGPT,’ Google’s Bard, Meta’s LLaMA 2, and domestic companies like Naver unveiling ‘HyperCLOVA X’ have been introduced. Kakao also announced plans to release ‘KoGPT 2.0’ by the end of the year, signaling fierce competition in the generative AI market.

‘Opportunity or threat?’

The media industry’s perspective on the rapidly growing generative AI market remains ambivalent. Especially traditional media seem to be withholding judgment somewhere between ‘opportunity’ and ‘threat.’ While emphasizing the innovative nature of these tools daily, they also feel complex emotions as their status as news content producers could weaken further.

In fact, a recent survey conducted by the London School of Economics (LSE) targeting 105 media outlets across 46 countries reveals the media industry’s complex views and feelings. Eighty percent of the participating news organizations responded that AI’s role in news production will expand in the future and is already being utilized in almost every aspect. However, 60% of respondents expressed concerns that it could ethically pose problems in terms of declining editorial quality and commercialization of journalism.

Concerns about generative AI have also manifested in calls for exercising copyright over news content and efforts to prioritize human-created content. The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) advanced the release of its ‘Global AI Principles,’ originally planned for November. The association included various aspects such as quality, fairness, and safety in these principles, but emphasized the ‘intellectual property rights’ domain above all.

Earlier, the Associated Press (AP) banned the use of AI in news content and image creation, the British news agency Reuters established four guidelines based on ethical principles, and the German news agency DPA created five comprehensive principles reflecting journalistic values. Individual media outlets are also preparing defensive measures, such as revising news content terms of use, due to concerns about fake news proliferation and hallucination phenomena.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Google quickly agreed to pay the New York Times 130 billion KRW over three years, and OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, signed a licensing agreement with the news agency AP. While this is seen as a meaningful achievement in the field of news copyright, there is also speculation that signing licensing agreements with major symbolic media outlets is a strategic move to secure future immunity. Portals that monopolize the domestic news content distribution market are taking a defensive stance and withholding their position. Naver stated that it is “closely monitoring how regulatory trends and discussions unfold” regarding generative AI training sources but has not disclosed parameters or training volumes.

As has been the case so far, the media industry, especially traditional media, has once again been pushed onto the testing ground by irreversible digital platform innovation. It remains uncertain whether concerns and controversies over the powerful issue of ‘fake news’ will lead to an advantage for traditional media. Meanwhile, generative AI companies are preparing to release even more improved versions.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.