Surprise suprise! Misinformation, Disinformation, and Oppresion of Press Freedom just rolled out the red carpet to greet its infamous recruit, Artificial Intelligence (AI). Good grief! Here we go again, the deadly game of journalists escalates more than ever.

It is a bolt out of the blue for the Philippine Media, as GMA unveils its first ever AI generated sportscasters in leiu of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) 99th season. This supposedly “groundbreaking” project provoked social media debates and underscored once more the blurring boundaries of creativity and development. In a blink of an eye, people have  when in fact, they just so happened to be the spark that ignited the long-standing power struggle between journalists and Artificial Intelligence.

According to Britannica, Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings. Some of the readily available AI that people use especially for writing are SEO.ai, HubSpot, GPT-3, Quillbot, Grammarly, Jasper.ai, Hemingway Editor, Rytr.me, Frase.io, Copy.ai, INK, Wordtune, Writer, LongShot, and of course the bestie of many, Chat GPT. 

These advancements are indeed inevitable but it shouldn’t come at the expense of human potential and the opportunities that goes along with it. I fear a future journalism landscape that is saturated with humanless and heartless outputs that abandons the very essence and code of ethics of journalism. Yes, it does help us with our demanding and arduous tasks, but let’s refrain from letting its dangers fool us. Most significantly, it should be an aid and enhancement to our work, not our replacement.

In retrospect, I committed almost half of my life as a campus watchdog, went through tedious hours of writing, editing, revising, and everything in between, all in pursuit of responsible journalism. The countless “Ay apo, presswork manen, meeting manen.” I’ve heard from my papa, followed by “Alaem ketdi amin nga badom ta dita ka lattan, han ka agawiden.” has been a relentless music to my ears for years. Funny enough, no matter how angry he gets, he would still wait for me at the jeepney terminal, whether it be 10PM or 2AM, with his matching gigantic yellow flashlight and his old yet manly figure that makes me feel as if no kidnapper or snatcher would ever dare to touch even a single strand of my frizzy hair. 

 It is disheartening to think about the possibility of dominantly replacing human labor with artificially generated ones in the near future. In addition to our esteemed traditional journalists who commited their life to the profession and craft of journalism, Benguet State University (BSU) alone amasses a total of 400 Bachelor of Science in Development Communication (BS DevCom) and 407 Bachelor of Arts in Communication (BA Comm) students, who invested their future on their degree only to battle a warfare of diplomas versus softwares, depriving them the opportunity to even set foot in the journalism industry, what a shame. 

  They dub AI as an investment to the media, when all along, they can invest in hiring and fortifying the capabilities of human broadcasters, writers, and editors instead. Prioritize investing in humans over Artificial Intelligence!

AI poses so much risks such as dent on the accuracy, fairness and transparency of news and information, it opens a ground for news manipulation that could lead to disinformation, and too much reliance of people to AI.

Let us never forget that all along, this was never solely about journalism, it extends way beyond the risks of AI to communication, as this could endanger and phase out thousands and millions of other jobs as well that suffices our long-standing needs for survival.

Truth is, AI could just slap me right in the face by generating an ideal, faultless, and flawless article in a matter of seconds, almost as if it wants to mock me and my inadequate writing ability, throwing out all that I’ve learned over the course of my nine crazy years as a campus journo.

It is straight out telling me that I still need more practice and training, I commit grammatical errors and misspelled words, and most importantly, no amount of years spent devouring articles would really gear me up to match Mr. Perfectly Made AI, wait, is it even a he or she?

Imagine the euphoria of waiting for the game’s results while standing under the blazing heat of sun during sports reportage, the thrill each on-the-spot news coverage brings, the sorrow, devastation, immense joy, fulfillment, and amusement of writing, taking photos, laying out, copy editing and cartooning manually. It is with these nuances that co-exists with our duty to preserve the truth and humanize it, that distinguishes us from AI—our passionate love for this dying and deadly field.

SIMPLY SAID, AI IS AN AVENUE FOR HEARTLESS JOURNALISM

 It takes ones heart, fueled with their desire, passion, and longing to grip the mighty pen as it bleeds the gravely vanishing truth. It takes ones heart to write for and give light to the grassroots, the marginalized, the underprivileged, and the unheard. 

Will there ever be a technology that could generate passion in journalism? Even if we invest 125 million in a span of 11 days, searching for where the heart of AI is in the nooks and crannies of our society, it will never show itself, because, spoiler alert, there is none.  

 Is love truly sufficient to put an end to this blurring line? I may sound like a delulu for romanticizing love of writing, but to answer my own question; LOVE IGNITES PASSION, and it is with this passion that we continue to strive to make the world a safer place for all the unseen and the unheard. We will never truly know the depth our voices could hold and the power our mighty pen could do in transforming the lives of many.

It is only us humans who are capable of truly HUMANIZING journalism. Hindi kailanman matutumbasan ng ArtificiaI Intelligence ang puso ng tao sa pakikibaka at buong paninindigang pagsiwalat sa mga ordinaryong kuwentong sumasalamin sa unti-unting namamatay na katotohanan. Lagi’t lagi patuloy sana nating piliing sumulong, sumulat, manindigan, at higit sa lahat — MAGMULAT.