Is AI the Next Big Journalism Disruptor?

By: Ben Potter, ACN Editor

I am a proud card-carrying member of the microgeneration called Xennials – what some call the “sweet spot” residing on the border between Gen X and Millennials. One hallmark of this group is how we have intersected with technology throughout our lives. As young children, few of us had computers. Our first intersection with email and the internet didn’t come until high school or possibly even college.

Later on, we emerged into adulthood alongside an ever-increasingly array of life-altering technologies. As ag journalists, many of these innovations have made our lives much easier. I use my laptop to do background research online, I have sourced story ideas and farmer leads from Twitter, and I use my smartphone to call sources …. You get the picture – I’m sure I’m not revealing any mind-boggling trade secrets here.

One of the newer hot-button technologies is artificial intelligence. AI is increasingly making its mark in the agriculture industry, with innovations that can do everything from weed identification to maximizing irrigation efficiencies and more accurately predicting yields.

But I’m also learning that AI could have some positive – or very negative – implications for ag journalists as well.

The first venue is AI-generated illustrations, an area that is fraught with potential ethical pitfalls. A few weeks ago, I was playing around with something called MidJourney. Users enter a prompt, and the algorithm spits out four images based on what you typed. You can then refine them as you please. Fun aside here’s the first one I made (based on my 14-year-old daughter’s suggestion of “cats dressed like lobsters”):

To be fair, this is a fairly innocuous use of this technology. But will people with fewer scruples than me use it to avoid paying working artists by using this instead? You’d better believe it.

Then I stumbled across something that’s potentially even more worrisome. It’s called ChatGPT, and it has the potential to significantly reshape how we do our jobs. As with MidJourney, the idea is to give it some sort of prompt, and users will get a response based on what they typed. I was working on a column about New Year’s resolutions that farmers should consider making, so I told it to “List 8 New Year’s resolutions that are specific to a Midwestern farmer.” The results were somewhat solid. I’ll list them now:

1. Plan and budget for the upcoming growing season, including seed, fertilizer, and pest control costs.
2. Develop a marketing plan for selling your crops, including identifying potential buyers and negotiating prices.
3. Invest in new technology or equipment to improve efficiency and productivity on your farm.
4. Develop a nutrient management plan to ensure that your crops are receiving the right amount of nutrients at the right time.
5. Implement conservation practices on your farm, such as cover cropping and no-till farming to protect soil health and water quality.
6. Join a local farm organization or attend workshops to stay up-to-date on the latest farming practices and trends.
7. Create a succession plan to ensure the long-term sustainability of your farm.
8. Take care of your own health and well-being, including getting regular check-ups and maintaining a healthy diet and exercise routine.

An optimist would look at this and see a valuable new reporting tool that will help to generate story ideas, gather background intelligence, and more. A pessimist would say it’s marching ag journalists one step closer to obsoletion.

Is AI coming for our jobs? I choose to remain an optimist for now. There are many things that these tools can do, but there are also a handful that they can’t do. At the very top of that list is the simple fact that AI can’t interview people, take their photos, and offer nuanced commentary on those conversations. That’s core to how we are able to write successful stories that connect with our audiences.

Also, OpenAI (the creator of ChaGPT) offered the warning that results “may occasionally result in incorrect information.” This is to say, be very, very careful with how you use a tool like this.

Either way, it’s a good reminder about disruptive technologies. Technology has disrupted labor for centuries. It’s important to acknowledge that these innovations often end up putting real people out of work. I don’t think robots are coming for my job (yet), but it’s perhaps time for a closer look at something that could be widely useful in our field if we are mindful of the possible negative implications it also carries.