IPOH, May 28 — While some analysts perceived artificial intelligence (AI) as a threat to authentic journalism, experts at Hawana 2023 Media Forum here today, said that AI tools can also transform the way journalists work.

Country Manager at the Agence France-Presse (AFP) for Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei Alric Manickam opined that journalists could work with those tools to augment their daily jobs and maximise their potential.

“I think it’s all about how we can use it to make our jobs easier, so maybe we can focus on other things to provide certain content element that is much more fulfilling, much more wholesome to your target audience at the end of the day,” he said when responding to a question as to whether journalists should use AI in their work field.

Noting that there were a lot of arguments about whether AI will replace certain jobs including journalists, he said there were many other aspects to look at and it’s down to how media practitioners live with it somehow.

Meanwhile, Radio Television Malaysia’s (RTM) director-general Suhaimi Sulaiman, said he welcomed the usage of AI in newsrooms as it can help journalists in some way.

“AI can do transcribing, so you go out and interview and they did transcribe for you... so you will be left with higher thinking work to do,” he said.

On the other hand, Brand Strategist Andrew Ambrose said that even though AI-driven journalism was already implemented in certain countries, journalists should also do their due diligence in understanding the tools.

“Students are getting excited about ChatGPT because when they key in the assignment question, the whole thing comes out, but when you actually read it, it’s just giving you an outline to the question you ask.

“It’s not giving you that better quality information that you need, or most importantly, the critical thinking aspect,” he said adding that the new tools should be embraced but not blindly used.

Jointly organised by Bernama and the Institute of Broadcasting and Information Tun Abdul Razak (IPPTAR), the forum was attended by journalists, correspondents and academics from Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Japan, and Kuwait.

The forum was held in conjunction with the National Journalists’ Day (Hawana) 2023 celebration. — Bernama