FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dear FCC Members,

Is Arti cial Intelligence going to put journalists out of work?

at’s a question that’s been posed with increasing seriousness lately, as ChatGPT and other AI tools have proven remarkably adept at churning out realistic-sounding journalistic articles. Ask it to write about almost anything, in any particular newsroom style, at any length, and ChatGPT can churn out a perfectly acceptable article in seconds.

It’s actually not new. In April 2017, I wrote a piece for the HKU Journalism newsletter about a robot named Xiao Nan (小 南), or Little South, which managed to write a 300-character article for the Guangzhou newspaper Southern Metropolis Daily informing readers which train tickets were sold out for the Lunar New Year travel crush.

I wrote then that instead of acting like curmudgeonly Luddites, journalists should learn to embrace the new technology – just as in the 1980s we shifted from typewriters to computers, and in the 2000s we learned to include internet search engines like Google in our regular fact-checking routine. I still have a hard time remembering how we actually did fact-checking before the internet.

“Instead of viewing it as a threat, we need to prepare for it, welcome it, and recognise that it will make our journalism smarter and more comprehensive, and consumers much better informed,” I wrote six years ago.

I concluded, somewhat overcon dently, that “robots have a long way to go before they can write lively, engaging narratives. Xiao Nan could turn out a pro forma article on train ticket sales, but it will be a long time before a bot can write like George Orwell.”

Well, guess what? ChatGPT can now turn out an article uncannily like something Orwell could have written.

Am I more worried now? Not really. I still think journalists need to embrace the technology and all the ways it can make their jobs easier, just like we learned to embrace the web and social media a generation ago.

AI can scan lengthy reports or court documents looking for quotes and keywords. It can help reporters digest reams of information in seconds, saving precious time. While ChatGPT and other AI programs can write articles, they often include huge mistakes. AI can be easily manipulated by humans feeding it false or misleading data.

AI will be able to do a lot of the background research, allowing journalists to do what they used to do more of in the old days when I started out; getting out of the o ce and meeting people face-to-face to gather tips, collect rst-hand information and cultivate sources. e 24/7 news cycle has too many journalist chained to their desks, emailing questions, monitoring social media accounts and churning out stories without the bene t of old-fashioned shoe leather reporting.

It will be a long time before a bot can sidle up to the bar at the FCC. But then again, that’s what I said six years ago about a bot not writing like Orwell. If I’m wrong again, I might be buying the bot a drink. ***********

I also want to take this opportunity to say a heartfelt thanks to our General Manager, Didier Saugy, who is departing Hong Kong for my former stomping ground of Washington, DC, where he will be manager of the National Press Club. Didier came on board in 2018, probably never suspecting that the next few years would be the most challenging in our club’s history, with the 2019 social unrest followed by three years of COVID restrictions and then the question mark over our lease. Please join me in thanking Didier for his stewardship and steady hand during an incredibly di cult period.

Keith Richburg Hong Kong March 2023