BY SITI FAUZIAH HASAN
SEREMBAN: Despite the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in journalism, creativity and the human touch remain essential in producing accurate and high-quality news.
Mandarin newspaper journalist Choong Mei Chin, 47, said while AI could speed up news writing by enabling faster access to information and data, media practitioners must not rely solely on it and should verify the authenticity of the content.
“I have used AI in my writing to assist with translation, identifying news angles, fact-checking and reviewing interview transcripts. However, relying too much on AI can affect creativity and quality, and may lead journalists to think less critically.
“For example, if we are reporting on the ASEAN Summit, the information must be accurate as the global audience reads it, and the media carries the image of the country,” she told Bernama.
Choong, who has been a journalist for over 20 years, said AI was not a threat but a revolution that must be navigated wisely and its misuse could weaken writing skills, leading to a decline in quality and affecting credibility.
Echoing a similar view, Nurashikin Haron, 30, a journalist at a news agency, said that while AI made work easier and offered guidance in generating ideas, over-reliance on the technology could lead to complacency among journalists.
“I have never used AI tools like ChatGPT, but I do rely heavily on Google to search for information. Sometimes, AI-generated results appear on the platform itself. It actually helps with searches and can boost journalists’ productivity.
“However, the results produced by AI often feels somewhat ‘empty’ because the search is based on data from the cloud. Compared to writing that comes from the heart, where emotions and energy are conveyed by the writer, you can truly sense the sincerity of the article,” she said.
Nurashikin, who has been in the media industry since 2019, said AI should not be used as the only tool in news production and that young journalists must continue to develop their writing and critical thinking skills to keep their work relevant and engaging.
Political communication expert and social media expert Prof Madya Dr Mohd Faizal Kasmani from Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) said AI applications such as ChatGPT had a significant impact on news writing, as they could produce accurate and timely content in proper news format.
However, he said the quality of news produced by AI could be inaccurate if not properly checked, especially in the social media era, where the demand for rapid news dissemination had led to heavy reliance on AI.
“The use of AI is inevitable; it is a tool that helps us carry out tasks more efficiently, similar to platforms like Google and Canva. Journalists should use AI to help produce news more quickly, but they must not depend on it entirely,” he said.
The USIM Communication Centre director also said that although AI could write news, it was not capable of being a journalist and merely produced news based on information provided by humans.
He explained that AI could not conduct investigations, ask questions, provide quotations, generate accurate news leads, or determine whether an event had news value.
“Like it or not, AI is a technology that will be used by the media industry today, particularly for producing basic and generic content or to assist industry players in working more efficiently,” he said.
However, Mohd Faizal emphasised that the industry required original and distinctive content that only humans could produce, adding that excessive reliance on AI could result in generic and similar work that would not last. – Bernama
