The news industry is already in the throes of a business-model shift, and it now faces a challenge in its core work: writing.
ChatGPT, a large language model from the tech company OpenAI, has been unleashed upon the world. As an artificial-intelligence tool, where GPT stands for Generative Pretrained Transformer, it can create text based on typed prompts. Google has its own version called Bard. Many others are already following suit.
As we’ve seen in the last few months, ChatGPT can ‘put together’ poems and essays, academic papers and application letters, functional computer code and search-engine-optimised briefs for internet businesses. It even managed to pass medical- and business-school exams in the United States. It can mimic writing styles, produce mashups—say, a limerick contrasting the budget presentations of two finance ministers in India—and generally pass off as a semi-intelligent assistant that can find its place in society.
What ChatGPT and similar bots have to offer will be merely adequate for some but quite valuable for others. And the business of news will not remain unscathed by its advent.
Some news organisations are already publishing AI-generated articles, with or without disclosures; others are declaring how they’d use such tools to generate quizzes and crosswords for their readers. ChatGPT is hailed as a game changer by many; but it is also dismissed as a “bullshit generator” by some.
When trust in media is eroding and there’s pressure on business models to do more with less, it’s inevitable that more AI-generated writing will find its way into publications. We at The Ken, however, are very clear about where we stand.
As an organisation, we believe in the sanctity of every written word published on our platform. Original reported stories, nuanced perspectives, and deep dives into issues shaping the world around us have been the hallmark of The Ken since its inception. Producing this work means talking to people in person, over the phone, or online calls. These people may be founders, business executives, regulators, investors, competitors, customers, employees, and many others with a perspective on the story being reported. Once written, the story goes through rigorous fact-checking and editing.
We take ownership of what we write, including the mistakes we make. In the process, we are creating new knowledge and not just reassembling words and facts on the internet.
This is made possible by our team of talented journalists and discerning editors who take pride in the painstaking effort it takes to produce every story. And they do it every single day.
What you read at The Ken is a culmination of the efforts of real people who work behind the scenes to ensure that we match the expectations you have come to have of one of the world’s best newsrooms.
