Generative visual AI in news organisations: perceptions, challenges, and opportunities
Welcome back to Hacks and Hackers for 2024! Next week, we’ll hear from Dr TJ Thompson (ADMS; RMIT) about his research on generative visual AI in news organisations.
AI services that provide responses to prompts, such as ChatGPT, have ignited passionate discussions over the future of learning, work, and creativity. AI-enabled text-to-image generators, such as Midjourney, pose profound questions about the purpose, meaning, and value of images yet have received considerably less research attention, despite the implications they raise for both the production and consumption of images.
Drawing on interviews with leading news organisations across three continents, including Australia, this presentation identifies how news editors or equivalent perceive generative visual AI and outlines the challenges and opportunities they see for the technology in relation to their news operations. It also identifies the extent to which these newsrooms have policies governing how generative visual AI is used or, if not, the principles that would inform their development.
Event details
When: 5:30pm, Wednesday 28 February
Where: ABC Brisbane, 114 Grey St South Brisbane
Register: Humanitix
In memoriam – Arjun Srinivas
In December, ADM+S PhD student Arjun Srinivas spoke about a 3-month internship he completed at ABC investigating how a public service media organisation navigates the recommender systems of large commercial platforms like YouTube.
Arjun tragically passed away on Saturday 27 January 2024 after he was struck by a motor vehicle. Arjun was an enthusiastic participant in Hacks and Hackers Brisbane and presented at multiple events. We extend our heartfelt condolences to everyone grieving Arjun’s passing.
You can read about Arjun’s story and his contribution to ADM+S and the DMRC and add to or view Arjun’s public memorial page.
From elsewhere
Julian Fell has a great story on the “overemployed”, including how online communities react to journalists asking for comment.
The Brisbane Times is using expert research and data to run a series called the Brisbane Life Study about quality of life and liveability in Brisbane.
On the AI front, Air Canada must honor a refund policy invented by the airline’s chatbot in Ars Technica.