News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists

Some news work is already being helped by AI. For example, the Associated Press uses AI software to turn company earnings data into news articles — about 15 times faster than before ^[1]. Journalists also use tools like ChatGPT to brainstorm headlines or write first drafts ^{[2] [2]}.

Even routine tasks such as transcribing interviews or tagging articles can be automated. AI can also assist with photos (for example, auto-enhancing or captioning images), but it still can’t take the pictures or choose the story focus. Critically, tasks that need human judgment remain human.

Machines can make errors or miss context, so reporters still check AI’s work ^[3]. Tasks like pitching stories to editors, interviewing people, and building trust with sources require personal skills and ethics. As Axios notes, experienced journalists have “deep domain expertise” and credibility that “machines can’t replicate” ^[4].

In short, AI today mainly augments reporters by speeding up writing or back-office work ^{[1] [2]}, but the creative, investigative and social parts of reporting stay largely in human hands.

Newsrooms will adopt AI tools as long as the benefits outweigh the risks. Many simple AI tools (ChatGPT, transcription, photo-editing) are cheap or free to try, and smaller outlets are already experimenting with them. For example, an Italian editor said AI content boosted sales without cutting any jobs ^[3].

AI can save time and let a few journalists cover more news. However, publishers worry about mistakes: a famous case of AI-generated articles with errors led many to insist on human review ^[2]. Ethical and trust issues also matter — readers might lose trust if they think all content is written by bots.

Because of this, most organizations use AI as a helper, not a replacement. Experts point out that the best future journalists will be those who work hand-in-hand with AI. In the words of Axios’s CEO, combining AI’s speed with human authenticity can improve coverage ^[4].

In other words, AI might do more routine writing, but skilled reporters (who can interpret, investigate, and explain news) will stay in demand ^{[4] [3]}.