The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the practice of journalism is no longer part of the future but of the present. Media, journalists and researchers are increasingly looking for spaces to reflect on the emergence and impact of this technology on the profession in recent years.
LatAm Journalism Review (LJR) presents a list of 10 guides or books written in Spanish, English or Portuguese that explore the advantages and challenges of AI that journalists face. Tools and instructions on how to integrate this technology into workflows are also provided.
Before the advent of ChatGPT and generative AI systems, Jason Whittaker published the book “Tech Giants, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Journalism.”
Whittaker is part of the School of English and Journalism at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. In the book, he explores the impact on media of the big five technology companies Apple, Alphabet/Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft.
“Exploring the changes that the technology industry and automation have made in the past decade to the production, distribution and consumption of news globally, the book considers what happens to journalism once it is produced and enters the media ecosystems of the internet tech giants – and the impact of social media and AI on such things as fake news in the post-truth age,” the introduction of the book states.
The text is in English without translation to Spanish or Portuguese.
Communications company Prodigioso Volcán, together with the Gabo Foundation, also got ahead of the generative AI boom and, at the end of 2020, launched a guide in Spanish titled “Inteligencia artificial para periodistas” (Artificial intelligence for journalists).
The intention was, according to the creators, to clarify some of the basic concepts about the technology and its application for journalists curious to incorporate it into their daily work.
In February 2023, they published an expansion of the guide with updated concepts.
The guide goes to the origins of AI, exploring different terms and the use of technology over time, it delves into ChatGPT and basic AI tools, and even talks about the deontology of journalistic AI.
“Journalism and artificial intelligence have two possible meeting points: when journalism uses the tools of artificial intelligence in its processes, and when journalism covers artificial intelligence as a source. In both cases, the ethical challenges are multiple and they should not be overlooked,” the guide says.
This text was written by Karen De la Hoz, from the Gabo Foundation and Florencia Coelho, from New Media Research of newspaper La Nación, from Argentina.
Also in 2020, Francesco Marconi, who has led the development of the use of AI in journalism for the Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal, published a book about the potential of this technology.
The text titled “Newsmakers: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Journalism” promises to investigate the important questions that journalists and media must take into account when integrating the AI and algorithms in their workflows.
“For journalism students as well as seasoned media professionals, Marconi’s insights provide much-needed clarity and a practical roadmap for how AI can best serve journalism,” Columbia University said.
The chapters of the book are divided into: the problem that technology is advancing faster than journalistic practices, favorable factors of AI and its use for the transformation of newsrooms.
The book is in English without translation into other languages.
The office of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Montevideo published the book “Journalism and Artificial Intelligence in Latin America” in 2023 as part of the communication and information discussion notebooks published by the entity.
These notebooks seek, as the organization explains, to offer inputs so that decision makers can “take into account different angles of the issues that are at the bidding of the international agenda, always having existing international standards as the guiding axis. It is not intended to offer the last word. On the contrary, what we want is to contribute to an increasingly informed and plural debate on central issues of yesterday, today and tomorrow."
This text on journalism is in Spanish and is divided into several chapters that cover the following topics: how to carry out quality coverage of AI news, the use of AI in Latin American newsrooms, development of tools, automation in journalism. data and generative AI.
The book was authored by Natalia Zuazo and the research was carried out by Gala Cacchione.
According to the book, the term artificial intelligence has been with us for almost seven decades and automation processes are common in our daily lives. But, for laypeople and the media, the year 2023 will be remembered as the year in which AI became a widely used word.
It is not the first time that Peruvian media outlet Ojo Público has published a book on journalism. At the beginning of March, the team announced the launch of “No estamos solos. Herramientas de inteligencia artificial en la era de la desinformación” (We are not alone. Artificial intelligence tools in the age of disinformation).
“A manual for journalists and communicators that presents a comprehensive overview of how media outlets around the planet have had to face the emergence of programs, applications and new digital resources, with high disinformation potential and a special impact on social networks,” read a press release for the launch.
This book was prepared by David Hidalgo, executive director of OjoPúblico, and Gianella Tapullima, verification editor of the media outlet. They also had the support of the media outlet’s fact-checking team.
The book consists of three chapters. The first focuses on the advancement of new technologies; The second talks about OjoPúblico's experience in the development of the Quispe Chequea journalistic tool that uses AI resources to produce journalistic verification content in text and audio in Indigenous languages: finally, the third, shows a series of case studies with best practices in the use of this technology.
At the beginning of the year, Brazilian organization Farol Jornalismo published a guide in Portuguese “O mínimo que um jornalista precisa saber sobre inteligência artificial para começar 2024” (The minimum a journalist needs to know about artificial intelligence to start 2024).
The text brings together the top content on the topic published by the organization during 2023, especially those sent through its weekly newsletter.
“Throughout 2023, we spent almost every week analyzing the topic of artificial intelligence in journalism. This guide is an effort to make sense of the overabundance of content related to the topic,” the Farol Jornalismo team said in the introduction of the guide.
Giuliander Carpes was in charge of the book and Moreno Osório and Lívia Vieira edited it.
The guide explains basic concepts about what artificial intelligence is and what large language models (LLMs) are.
A list of courses on the subject is also offered, including two from the Knight Center: How to use ChatGPT and other generative AI tools in your newsroom; and Generative AI for journalists: Discover what data can do.
Also the guide explains the uses that AI can have in a newsroom and the problems associated with using this technology.
The second text in Portuguese on this list is an e-book written by Orlando Berti, a postdoctoral fellow in Communication at the State University of Piauí, in northeastern Brazil.
ChatGPT: Evolução ou fim do jornalismo? (ChatGPT: Evolution or the end of journalism) was launched in June 2023. In it, Berti tries to answer questions such as: Does Artificial Intelligence want to take over human sociability and sociability? What are some practical examples of using ChatGPT in journalism? Will artificial intelligence revolutionize or kill the profession?
“The book addresses the topic in a current way, providing practical examples and encouraging adaptation and professional renewal. The researcher states that it is a watershed between the past and the present, addressing not only the future of Journalism, but the transformations that are already taking place. It is an invitation to reflect on the role of the journalist in the current context and the need to reinvent oneself to keep up with technological changes,” a press release presenting the book stated.
The only book on the list created entirely from Spain is titled “Inteligencia artificial en el periodismo: Mapping de conceptos, casos y recomendaciones (Artificial intelligence in journalism: Mapping of concepts, cases and recommendations”.
The work was coordinated by Santiago Tejedor, teacher, journalist, and head of the Department of Journalism and Communication Sciences at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.
The information in the book is divided into six chapters: background, concepts and reflections, contributions and challenges, case mapping, Catalan media in the face of AI, and training and learning.
“The book clearly reviews the emerging tools and their applications to different spheres of journalistic work… the book offers, in short, a refined vision, which flees both from the apocalyptic nostalgia of the past, as well as from those other integrated discourses that only sing the benefits of what is to come, without taking into account the serious problems and unknowns that are also foreseen,” Spanish journalist Ramón Salaverría said in the prologue of the book.
Another book in Portuguese on the list is the text titled “Mobilidade e Inteligência Artificial: Os Novos Caminhos do Jornalismo” [Mobility and artificial intelligence: the new paths of journalism].
The book was created by the LamCom team, a research unit in the Communication and Arts area of the University of Beira Interior, in Covilhã, Portugal, and has four chapters: use of mobile devices, journalistic narratives for mobile devices, case studies and artificial intelligence applied to journalism.
“This work is the result of the 5th JDM – International Congress of Journalism and Mobile Devices held in December 2021. It is not a book of proceedings, but rather the final result of a long journey that began with the call for papers,” the introduction for the book reads.
Although it is mostly in Portuguese, some of the texts within the book are in the original language in which they were written. In this case, there are at least two stories in Spanish within the book.
Although it is not a book or an extensive guide, we wanted to add the Paris Charter on Artificial Intelligence and Journalism published in November 2023 to the list.
It is available in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French.
The letter emphasizes that journalistic ethics must govern the use of AI and lists a set of fundamental ethical principles to protect the integrity of news and information in this new era.
Furthermore, it maintains that AI systems can greatly help media in strengthening democracy, but only if they are used transparently, fairly and responsibly in an editorial environment that firmly upholds journalistic ethics.
“The Paris Charter is the first international ethical benchmark for AI and journalism,” said Mario Ressa,
winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize and part of the committee that created the letter.
