KUCHING: Journalists can be assured that artificial intelligence (AI) is meant to empower them through technology.
UNIMAS Faculty Education Language and Communication lecturer Malia Taibi said that while AI may be intelligent, we must remember it’s artificial and that’s why users need to be smarter than the technology itself.
“You may want to write an interesting article using AI but one of the key challenges AI poses to journalism: the loss of journalistic identity.
“When a journalist writes, we usually do so with conviction, because we believe in the information we’ve gathered and that’s why we strive to present it as accurately as possible.
“It’s the same with reading novels or writing news, there’s a distinct voice, a human conviction. That’s what makes it real,” she said during her presentation titled “Future of Media Career in AI-Driven World in Sarawak” at the Sarawak Media Conference (SMEC) 2025 at Sheraton Hotel here on Wednesday (July 2).
She also shared her growing concern over how younger journalists are increasingly dependent on AI tools to produce content.
“I’ve been teaching journalism at UNIMAS since 2006 and before AI, the goal was to train them as if I were their editor in a real newsroom but now, with AI, we can’t escape the influence of technology,” she said.
While she acknowledged that students are allowed to use AI for idea generation or structuring articles, overreliance has become problematic.
“Sometimes, they feed information into AI and submit the output as is.
“As a lecturer, I can gauge their language proficiency.
“If they suddenly produce writing far beyond their usual level or even better than mine, it raises a red flag,” she said.
Malia added that such practices affect not only students’ learning but also reflect poorly on journalism training programmes.
“Some of our students recently completed internships, and we’ve received feedback from media organisations that they were using AI for news writing.
“This gives a negative impression, as we teach them to write as real journalists, but in practice, they fall back on AI,” she added.
She called on media organisations to intervene and guide young reporters, warning that future employees entering the workforce with a passive approach to journalism may damage the credibility of the profession.
“Overdependence on AI is dangerous. Sometimes you second-guess your own work, constantly referring to AI for validation.
“But when technical glitches happen, that’s the real test. If you can’t write without AI, you’re in trouble,” she said.
