Executive Axel Springer: AI Helps Journalists Focus On Core Work

JAKARTA - Senior executive of German media giant Axel Springer said on Thursday 22 June that artificial intelligence (AI) would free journalists for more time that they could dedicate to the core reporting tasks. This comes days after an internal email warned that the technology would cause a lot of job loss.

"For news spaces, AI opens new ways and freedoms. Journalists can divert tedious jobs to AI and concentrate more time and energy on their core tasks," Samir Fadlallah, Chief Information Officer told Reuters on the sidelines of a media conference in Berlin.

The company will face challenges related to the technology "constructively," he said.

In an email seen by Reuters earlier this week, the publisher underscores plans "only digital" for Bild tabloids with mass circulation to be implemented in early 2024, stating that their "AI attacks" would cause a lot of work to become irrelevant.

"The role of editorial manager, page editing, script editing, secretary, and photo editing will no longer exist as it is today," the editorial leadership team wrote to Bild staff.

Although Springer did not comment on the number of risky jobs, company sources told Reuters that the number of affected employees would be in triple digits.

Fadlallah said his focus was on the challenges of regulation and the opportunities offered by the technology for consumers.

"We see great potential in Genrative AI to provide more attractive and individually adapted products to our readers and users," he said, adding that it gives users "a really new opportunity for interaction."

"Our focus is of course on topics such as necessary regulations, remuneration for the use of our content as training material for large language models, and data protection," he said.

The company has stated that it aims to increase revenue from their main publications, Bild and Welt, by 100 million euros (Rp1,643 trillion) by 2025 through increased revenue and cost savings, and intends to completely stop print newspaper production in the medium term.

Axel Springer is active in more than 40 countries and has more than 18,000 employees worldwide. In addition to their German publications, the company also has English-language news sites, Politico, US media firm Insider, and the StepStone and AVIV classification portals.