Ladina Heimgartner: AI development can leave many journalists out of work

Due to the development of artificial intelligence (AI), many journalists will no longer be in demand in the future, they may find themselves out of work, Head Global Media at Ringier AG and CEO of the Blick Group Ladina Heimgartner said at the European Publishing Congress 2023 in Vienna, Report's employee informs from the event.

She noted that over the past 20 years, the media have already experienced three global shocks in their transformation. The first was the emergence and development of the Internet in the 2000s, the second - the beginning and development of social networks and platforms in the 2010s, the third - the emergence of artificial intelligence in our time.

All these changes have had a significant impact on newspaper advertising revenues, but in general the media has been able to adapt to the first two changes related to social media and the Internet, she said.

Now after the development of artificial intelligence, many journalists may become unnecessary, she added.

At the same time, artificial intelligence creates a lot of incorrect and unverified information, which can lead to a loss of trust on the part of readers, she said. This means that any content created by AI will still require subsequent verification by a person - an editor, a journalist. Also, all texts created using artificial intelligence must have a mark about it.

This year, discussions at the European Publishing Congress focused on the impact of artificial intelligence on the development of the media and the possibilities of using AI, in particular for creating materials for social networks, descriptions of photos. Representatives of many European publications spoke about their experience in this matter.