Responsible AI for journalism

Description

An event organised by Cambridge Digital Humanities

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An online public event at the Cambridge Social Data School

Speakers

• Tomasz Hollanek
• Ruona Meyer

Dr Tomasz Hollanek is a design and technology ethics researcher with a background in cultural studies, philosophy, UX design, and communications. Currently, he is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (LCFI) at the University of Cambridge and a Research Associate at Jesus College, Cambridge. Previously, Tomasz was a Vice-Chancellor’s PhD Scholar at Cambridge and a Visiting Research Fellow at the École normale supérieure in Paris. He has contributed to numerous research projects, including the Global AI Narratives Project at LCFI and the Ethics of Digitalisation research program at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard.

Ruona Meyer is a Nigerian investigative journalist and media trainer with expertise in solutions journalism. A final-year PhD scholar at De Montfort University, UK, her research explores power dynamics within transcontinental investigative journalism networks. In 2019, she was published in a special issue of African Journalism Studies: Practices, Policies and Regulation in African Journalism: Mapping a Research Agenda. That same year, Ruona bagged the BBC World Service’s and Nigeria’s first Emmy nomination for the documentary Sweet Sweet Codeine. From 2021 to 2023, she served as Manager, Africa Initiative at the Solutions Journalism Network, USA, from February 2021 to September 2023, overseeing project implementation and evaluation across 60 newsrooms in four countries. Ruona is also Visiting Senior Research Associate, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicines, King’s College UK and Advisory Board Member, Next-Gen News Study—ongoing research by Financial Times Strategies, Google News Initiative and Medill Northwestern University into young people’s news consumption habits.

Chair

Irving Huerta, convenor of the Cambridge Data Schools.

Description

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in journalism has been ongoing for several years, but the advent of generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Bard, Midjourney, and others has ignited a thorny public debate. These technologies appear to surpass human capabilities in structuring information and producing publishable content. However, concerns persist regarding widening global asymmetries, the effectiveness of these technologies in combating or exacerbating disinformation, and even on how journalism reports on these technologies while being increasingly dependent on them, and therefore, on the big tech companies profiting from them.

In this public event organised as part of the Cambridge Social Data Schools programme, we will discuss these problems and ask: Can journalists use AI responsibly? If so, how? Also, how much of this can be tackled with better-designed technology, how much with ethical reporting, and how much with regulation? Join us in this discussion, along with specialists working on toolkits for responsible AI in journalism and practitioners thinking about how to use these technologies in different contexts around the world.

If you have specific accessibility needs for this event please get in touch. We will do our best to accommodate any requests.