Will artificial intelligence change the tools of digital media production and journalism?
Artificial intelligence is the ability of a digital computer or computer controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings. ONU professor Dr Greg Phipps told us that the modern history of AI can be traced back to 1956 when John McCarthy proposed the term as topic for a conference held at Dartmouth College, though the first working AI programs were checkers and chess playing programs written in 1951. Recently, AI has begun being used in many everyday tasks because it enhances the speed, precision and effectiveness of human efforts; and it makes it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs and perform human-like tasks. Dr. Phipps demonstrated AI by playing us Radio GPT, featuring computer generated disc jockeys whose patter can include current news, weather and gossip, all pulled from the internet; and by showing a computer generated news anchor reading the news. He also showed us a video about the Lima Rotary Club pulled entirely from our website and created by computer. It was clunky and mispronounced "Lima" and "Rotary," but Dr. Phipps says that could have been corrected if he had given the program guidance. He pointed out that some media experiments with AI have been halted because of botched articles, and it's increasing difficult to tell the difference between real images and deepfakes. The conclusion? AI is a terrific tool to assist us with our jobs, but it is not ready to replace human beings.
Also at Monday's meeting, we presented a check for $543 to Crime Victim Services...the proceeds of our third quarter Rottery drawings. Thanks to everyone who contributed!
