“The Devil is Coming”: How GenAI Arrived At The Pulitzer Prize
What Happened:
In a notable shift for journalism awards, the Pulitzer Prizes this year required journalism category entrants to disclose the use of artificial intelligence in their submissions, leading to five out of forty-five finalists acknowledging AI's role in their work. While the specifics of AI application by these finalists have not yet been disclosed, this new disclosure requirement signifies an important recognition of AI's increasing incorporation into journalistic methodologies. The Pulitzer Prize Board, after evaluating around 1,200 submissions, instituted this change to foster transparency about AI's integration in journalism.
Who Did It:
The initiative for AI disclosure stems from the Pulitzer Prize Board, comprising 18 members who guide the prestigious awards. Marjorie Miller, serving as the administrator for the Pulitzer Prizes, spearheaded this directive. The board's engagement with AI's implications in journalism was catalysed by the growing prevalence of Generative AI and machine learning technologies in newsrooms, enhancing data analysis, narrative development, and reporting efficiency.
Speaking to Nieman Lab, Miller highlighted the board's proactive stance on AI, stating, "AI tools at the time had an ‘oh no, the devil is coming’ reputation," which prompted a deeper inquiry into the technology's potential benefits and pitfalls for journalism. The board's educational endeavors, including workshops led by Mark Hansen of the Columbia Journalism School, equipped them with a comprehensive understanding of AI applications in newsrooms, from analyzing large datasets to automating content creation. This foundation informed their decision not to restrict AI usage but to encourage its explorative adoption.
Why It Matters:
Journalism is Evolving: The Columbia Journalism Review's February report, Artificial Intelligence in the News: How AI Retools, Rationalizes, and Reshapes Journalism and the Public Arena shed light on the multifaceted reasons behind the news industry's embrace of AI. In short, this adoption is driven by recent technological breakthroughs like ChatGPT, the need to address market pressures and financial challenges, a competitive push towards innovation, and the overarching atmosphere of uncertainty, hype, and hope that surrounds AI technologies.
AI's application in journalism spans a broad array of tasks in news production and distribution and many of its most beneficial uses are relatively unassuming — focusing on improving the mundane yet critical aspects of journalistic work. These include the implementation of dynamic paywalls, the automation of transcription services, and the utilization of data analysis tools, all aimed at enhancing efficiency within news organizations.
The report highlights that while AI promises significant efficiency gains, these are often specific to the task and context in which AI is deployed. The anticipated benefits can be tempered by various factors, including the reliability of AI outputs, concerns over reputational damage due to inaccuracies, and the inherent challenges in automating complex journalistic tasks.
Publishing in Flux: The Pulitzer Prizes' move to include AI disclosure reflects a broader industry-wide evolution as journalism adapts to the AI Age. In the last days of 2023, The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft over AI use of copyrighted work. The case is probably the best case yet alleging that Generative AI is copyright infringement — not only is the NYT the single biggest proprietary data set in Common Crawl (the web archive that consists of petabytes of data collected since 2008 — updated monthly used to train ChatGPT) but many of ChatGPTs outputs quote the New York Times articles verbatim.
While the NYT is seeking the deletion of the OpenAI database, it is likely that this case is more of a negotiating tactic in order to get more money for licensing fees from OpenAI — similar to the deals the tech giant signed with Associated Press and Axel Springer last year. However, the case is not one in isolation, and 32 tech companies are currently undergoing lawsuits from publishers for much of the same reason.
FT Director David Buttle, quoted in The ACQUAINTED Trend Report, articulates the crux of this shift, stating: "The advent of Generative AI — particularly as this technology is integrated into search — looks set to change how consumers retrieve information of all kinds including news. Publishers need to respond at pace. Business models have to be adapted to an operating context in which journalism is monetised as an input to user-facing services such as AI chatbots rather than through engagement on owned platforms."
Overall, the development encapsulates how the journalism sector is having to evolve to adapt to the AI Age — underscoring the necessity to reconsider not only how journalistic content is created but also how it will be labelled, distributed and monetised in an AI-influenced landscape. The Pulitzer Prize Board's approach, emphasising exploration and transparency, shows a positive dialogue on ethical considerations and the potential for AI to augment journalistic practices, ensuring fidelity to the foundational values of accuracy, integrity, and ethical reporting amidst technological change.
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