The Age of Deepfake News is Here
Journalists have branded plans for artificial intelligence news anchors ‘utterly terrifying’ – as an LA-based channel looks set to launch them next year
LA-based Channel 1 is utilizing the technology to generate digital “humans” to provide global news updates. The station intends to deliver them as early as February on free ad-supported streaming television platforms, including applications like Crackle, Tubi, and Pluto.
Naturally, reporters throughout the United States are appalled by the news and have warned that it could have enormous repercussions for an already parched news industry.
Ruby Media Group CEO Kristen Ruby shared on X: ‘If you believe in the concept of ‘fake news,’ you have seen nothing. At least your news is presented by humans. When AI news anchors replace human news anchors – the concept of fake news will have a totally different meaning.’
Alec Lazenby, a Canada’s BC Today reporter, also shared his concerns on X: ‘This is utterly utterly terrifying. While the development of an entirely AI-powered broadcast is beyond impressive, it could have huge ramifications for an already depleted news industry and accelerate the loss of high-quality reporters and anchors.’
Adam Mosam, the proprietor of Channel 1, assured DailyMail.com that his organization will not take advantage of the contentious technology.
While Mosam acknowledged the inevitability of AI-generated news being misapplied, Channel 1 strives to “get out in front of this and create a responsible use of the technology.”
The general public, however, envisions a dystopian future in which "fake news" is ubiquitous due to its generation by computer algorithms.
In the past year, numerous online publications embarked on this endeavor, and almost all of them came to regret their choice.
Gannett, a mass media conglomerate, possesses several publications in the United States, including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, AZ Central, and Florida Today, all of which utilized LedeAI, an artificial intelligence service, to produce local high school athletics articles.
In August, Gannet terminated its AI experiment due to a multitude of article errors. Although local high school news may not elicit public concern, there is apprehension that such errors could occur on a global level.
One more publication that attempted this and failed was Sports Illustrated. The legacy publication was criticized a month ago for publishing AI-generated content, including the use of fabricated author photographs and profiles.
Mosam claims that Channel 1 intends to inform viewers in an open manner regarding the differentiation between original and AI-generated content.
Nonetheless, the public appears unconvinced.
Our Take:
Dystopian inevitabilities aside, there is no reason AI should be involved in journalism outside of helping with grammar and sentence structure. Today’s journalists are already lazy, making things even easier is like choosing to not work out an atrophying muscle.
It’s not hard to see how the negatives of this far outweigh the alleged positives.
When I think about Deep Fakes, I think about Biden...on a few different levels. His stuttering and tripping have been incorporated into the act. How many guys play Biden? So, to be clear, for Biden, it’s not all AI, it’s a movie with Hollywood costuming & heavy makeup, deep fake Bidens, programmed by Obama & others.
A real human agrees with your take 100%!
I didn’t know this was happening to the level of “nightly news” already! Thanks for your report, Ryan!