You probably are wondering as you read this paper how much of this newspaper was done by a real person and how much was impacted by AI?
Well that’s a great question and one that certainly needs to be addressed.
We would be lying if we told you that nothing here has been impacted by AI because we believe in maintaining a high ethical journalistic standard. The truth is there are some parts of putting this paper together that we don’t even realize are impacted by AI.
Let’s start with the writing, because that is something you as a student may have already asked AI for some help with.
First anyone who is quoted in this paper has either been interviewed by one of our reporters or they have given the quote to the press through a press release. We are very serious about making sure that we source all of our quotes and in the case of the governor’s visit those quotes were from her recorded video at the Randolph Farm and the brief speech given at the podium in the MPC. AI had nothing to do we those quotes.
Likewise, our reporter sat down with President Abdullah to speak directly to him about his ten year anniversary with VSU. It is very important for our staff to interview people firsthand.
However, AI did help us research the timeline information for the events that have happened in the last ten years at VSU. Rather than having to do a bunch of Google searches, ChatGPT gave us an initial list of items that have happened here during the last ten years. We then chose the ones that we thought were the most significant and used those in our graphic.
But for other items like sports, we don’t have to use AI because someone is already using it to collect information for us.
When we are looking for what happened in a past game, like for instance last year’s CIAA Tournament… we can go to our VSU sports page and find a game recap of last year’s championship game that more than likely used AI to gather that information in a post.
So even if we aren’t using an AI service, it is likely we are benefitting from someone else using one.
Lastly, let’s talk about how AI impacts our photos and images.
Yes – the cartoon above is created by AI. Would we love to have a staff member do that? You bet. And if you would like to be our illustrator, please come to our staff meeting in Alfred Harris Academic Commons on Monday’s at 3 p.m. or email us.
But when it comes to photos, we never ask for AI to generate an image for us. And we always avoid taking an image from someone’s Instagram without asking them for permission to publish it.
But what you probably did not know is that most of our new cameras use AI to help take the photo. AI in cameras help determine how to find the focus and how to capture the best possible photo.
If you edit in Photoshop or Lightroom, AI is helping make the photo sharper too. Yes, our cover photo is sharpened and silhouetted with AI even though Issac Baker did an amazing job capturing the moment.
Will AI continue to improve the world of print publications? Yes, definitely. But will it eventually lead to the layoff of an entire news staff? That remains to be seen.
