The Law and Ethics in the Use of artificial intelligence (AI) in Journalism by Marichu C. Lambino , (c)marichulambino 2023 Marichu Lambino

a heads-up for the worldwide audience 🙂

FOR THE DEPT CHAIR UPCMC DEPARTMENT OF JOURNALISM UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES DILIMAN 19 MAY 2023

Reputable news media companies worldwide such as the Washington Post, Reuters, the Associated Press, Bloomberg, The Guardian, etc have been using AI to track down simultaneous newsworthy events taking place state-by-state and country-by-country from disasters to crimes, and to analyze big data, churn out instantaneous reports in news format in areas such as the business beat (quarterly financial reports), the election beat (simultaneous state-by-state election forecasts and results), sports (simultaneous media sports events with myriad historical sports data), and other fields of reporting that use statistics. (1)

AI tools make the work easier and faster: Delegating and relegating tasks such as filtering data and formatting them into a news report — depending on the human editorial oversight employed — however, would inevitably have legal and ethical implications on accountability, transparency, and even on truthfulness and minimizing harm.

How honest, transparent, and accountable are media companies in their use of AI in news reporting and storification?

Absent a codified set of universally accepted norms governing the use of AI in journalism, there is a need to initiate a worldwide discourse on the law and ethics in the use of AI in journalism.

Based on this, undersigned faculty member hereby submits this letter of intent to conduct research and undertake a study on the law and ethics in the use of AI in journalism using legal method and discourse analysis to examine practices in the use of AI in journalism, study existing norms applicable to the use of AI in news reporting and storification, and propose a set of guidelines on the use of AI by news media organizations.

The results and analysis of such a study, to be presented to the public in January 2024 (or earlier) for the term September 2023-January 2024, can be used as basis for a set of guidelines by news media organizations, or at the very least, can be used to serve as additional materials for media literacy for audiences worldwide. It is hoped that this request could be approved.

This letter of intent is hereby respectfully submitted in support of an RLC application for the term September 2023-January 2024, First Semester AY 2023-2024. Marami pong salamat.

-signed Marichu C. Lambino