Despite the increasingly important role of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the news industry and its widely recognized potential, experts believe that this rapidly evolving technology still requires oversight from professional journalists, and professionalism cannot be completely replaced.
Experts point out that AI can indeed improve the efficiency of news production, including optimizing content delivery channels, thereby promoting broader industry innovation. However, as AI becomes more widespread, safety issues have become the core concern of the news industry.
Huawei Cloud (Malaysia) AI Generated Content (AIGC) engineer Lin Weixiang believes that in the next five years, the "safety" aspect will remain the primary issue for the media industry and urgently needs a roadmap for AI application.
He said that AI technology is diverse globally, and the media sector should be stringent on safety features, including addressing hackers and the accuracy of news.
“How do we find a balance between AI and news operations? We still need professional people (media workers) to oversee the integration of AI technology. My conclusion is that AI is still a tool and we cannot rely on it entirely.”
He said this today (17th) during an interview with Bernama after attending a panel discussion at the 54th Executive Board Meeting of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) in Kuala Lumpur.
“Each speaker (participating agency) in the discussion has internally developed solutions, but I am still concerned about the safety aspect and how to resolve the issues faced. (Various agencies) still need to collaborate to understand and address these concerns.”
As one of the keynote speakers at the conference, Lin Weixiang, a solutions engineer, also suggested that news agencies could consider cooperating not only with each other but also with university postgraduates to explore future media development trends.
“It's not just about the security aspect but re-examining the entire AI application process from an end-to-end perspective, from proof of concept (POC) to final implementation. How do we plan these projects? How do we operate them? This is what we call a roadmap.”
Themed "Sustainable Development of Future News Agencies: Leveraging AI and Technology for Long-term Growth," the conference focused on two major issues: building a digital-first, audience-centric strategy and tackling the challenges of misinformation and disinformation.
OANA was established in 1961 at the initiative of UNESCO to ensure the direct and free exchange of news between news agencies in regions where more than half of the world's population resides.
OANA covers two-thirds of the world's population and currently has 41 members from 33 countries in Asia and Oceania.
A total of 13 member countries participated in the conference held in Kuala Lumpur, attended by Xinhua Secretary-General Xu Yuchang and Hainan Bureau Chief Chen Liangjie along with their delegation.
Other members include the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) of Iran, Yonhap News Agency of South Korea, Azerbaijan State News Agency (Azertac), TASS News Agency of Russia, Anadolu Agency of Turkey, Emirates News Agency (WAM), Kyodo News of Japan, Qatar News Agency, Vietnam News Agency, Montsame News Agency of Mongolia, Antara News Agency of Indonesia, and Mehr News Agency of Iran.