The AI 'Slopwave' threatening business journalism

Journalists in the US have won a legal ruling against the rollout of AI tools in their industry. The News Not Slop campaign scored a victory against Axel Springer, publisher of Politico, after editorial staff on the website took their employer to arbitration complaining AI was doing their jobs. The dispute centred on the ‘Live Summaries’ feature used during the 2024 Democratic Convention. The arbitrator ruled: ‘Live Summaries were posted in prime “above-the-scroll” homepage placements without human editing, outside the normal content system, and were not corrected despite containing factual errors, missing context, and violations of Politico’s Stylebook.’

Meanwhile new UK research reveals more and more journalists are using AI. The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at Oxford University surveyed 1,004 UK journalists between August and November 2024. It found that 89% of journalists used some sort of AI tool at least once a month. Proponents of AI claim it will free them up to focus on high-value news gathering, but the study concludes this is not the case. Some 59% of journalists who used AI every day said they spent too much time working on low-level tasks compared with 37% who didn’t use AI at all.

Report co-author Neil Thurman said: ‘Despite the hype, our findings show that AI hasn’t dramatically lightened journalists’ grunt work. In fact, those who use AI most seem to feel more bogged down by low-level tasks – from cleaning data to checking AI output – suggesting the technology may be adding chores, as well as removing them’.

What does all this mean? That AI is generating an ever-increasing amount of content, what it is producing is simplistic and that journalists, despite the success in the US, are struggling to stem the tide. Bear in mind too, that the Politico case and the Reuters survey were both from 2024 – since then AI’s encroachment will only have intensified. 

The Reuters study discloses that journalists are more likely to see AI as a threat not an opportunity. Some 62% said they saw AI as a large or very large threat to journalism versus 15% who saw it as a large or very large opportunity. 

Two aspects unite the Politico case and the Reuters report. Journalists are worried about the effect on their jobs; and they are concerned about erosion of standards. From the Reuters survey: 83% of respondents were strongly concerned use of AI in journalism would have a negative impact on public trust; and 81% were strongly concerned about AI’s negative impact on journalistic accuracy.

In other words, while there may be a commercial imperative for introducing AI, the long-term damage to published output may be substantial. Should corporate comms professionals be alarmed? Yes, they should, not least discloses the Reuters research, because the heaviest AI usage is in business reporting.

Putting aside the fact it may be poorly expressed, what is being written about their company may not be accurate. 

It may take one howler to bring people to their senses, something that causes a major fallout for a company and its stakeholders, to force a rethink. Sadly, the way things are heading, it must only be a matter of time. 

No one wants to be that victim. What can be done to stop the rot or, as the US campaign has it, the slop? Control what you can, now. Make sure what is being delivered to newsrooms is truthful and how you want it to be – not just for today but for the future. Build relationships with trusted, reliable journalists.

Complacency is not an option.