Press Council AI Seminar: AI Vs Journalists, Will Machine Shift Human Role?

Tri Agung Kristanto, Chairman of the Deqan Pers Education Commission. (Photo: ary/voi)

The National Seminar Jurnalism vs Jakarta- Press Council held a National Seminar with the theme Journalism versus Artificial Intelligence at the Aryaduta Hotel, Jakarta, Wednesday 11 December. This event is a series of Awards from the 2024 Press Council. The seminar presents various views on the challenges and opportunities presented by the presence of artificial intelligence (AI) in the world of journalism.

In his remarks, Tri Agung Kristanto, Chairman of the Press Council's Education Commission, revealed that the presence of AI has raised concerns, especially regarding the potential for AI to replace journalists' duties. We realize that journalism and AI are not two conflicting things, but complement each other. However, concerns remain, for example, about AI that replaces the role of journalists, as has been seen in a number of television media and online media," he said.

However, Tri Agung is optimistic that AI will not completely replace humans. By facing AI, we must develop a human attitude. Because, even though AI can imitate many things, humans have uniqueness that will not be replaced," he said.

Chairman of the Press Council, Ninik Rahayu, added that in this digital era, people need to cultivate critical power in order to be able to distinguish valid information. People must know that the press is the correct source of information, different from social media. For this reason, media and journalists must continue to think critically," he said.

AI In The Journalism World

AI has started to be used in the press world since the last decade, in particular to accelerate the news production process. Several major media take advantage of AI to produce automated reports, such as sports news, financial reports, to large data analysis (big data). In addition, AI is also used for personalization of content, automatic editing, and managing news archives.

However, on the other hand, AI also has negative potential, especially when used for propaganda or disinformation spread. This technology allows the creation of fake news and manipulation of public opinion through social media bots or algorithms designed to massively spread certain information. This is a big challenge for journalism responsible for maintaining information integrity.

Through this seminar, the Press Council hopes to open a wider discussion space on how AI technology can be utilized without sacrificing the basic values of journalism. On the other hand, journalists are also invited to continue to improve their competence in facing an increasingly complex digital era.