Ai, veritable upskill tool for journalists – Expert, as 9mobile concludes 3rd edition of capacity building session
[By VICTOR NZE]
Media tech expert, Mr. Usifo Omozokpea has posited that artificial intelligence (Ai) is not in competition with the manual practice of journalism, but instead out to open a new platform of opportunities for both journalists and the profession, in addition to widening the horizon for the newsroom and providing upskill tools for practitioners in the industry.
Speaking as facilitator during the third edition of the 9mobile’s Capacity Building Session, Omozokpea, an experienced multimedia producer and social media strategist, explained that the applications and tools created by Ai can be effectively deployed to gather and distribute news, and also automate the process of news writing.
Telecommunications firm in the country, 9mobile, Thursday, took its knowledge sharing session for media partners, a notch higher, with the third edition of its capacity building initiative, designed to acquaint journalists with emerging trends in journalism.
Themed; “Responding to Emerging Challenges in Journalism with the use of AI-powered tools”, the session was facilitated by Mr Omozokpea, who is currently the Audience Development Manager (West Africa) at The Conversation Africa.
According to Omozokpea, Artificial Intelligence (Ai) is the simulation of human intelligence process or human activities through machines, especially computer systems.
He noted that there are specific applications of Ai which include; expert systems, natural language processing, speech recognition and machine vision.
“These tools enhance the job of media practitioners and can help them collaborate better,” he said.
According to him, there are various tools that have been designed to address specific media needs, as he participants to take advantage of the various Ai tools at their disposal to improve their professional practice.
“Artificial intelligence or automated journalism can be deployed towards identifying and tracking news trends or breaking stories with alerts; automated news writing and data visualization and can equally be effective in news gathering, content processing and distribution,” Omozokpea explained.
The advantages of Ai, according to Omozokpea, include; making work easier for the journalist; more visibility and reach for the journalist, frees the journalist to pursue and work on other aspects of the profession like investigation, cost effective, and they are not biased in editorializing.
“However, Ai can also be expensive as some of the tools are purpose built and need subscription; it can render the journalist redundant, especially those who do not upskill and update themselves to use the tools; Ai can also have technical issues, such that they need to be monitored and maintained; staff need to be trained on using or setting them up.
“For financial reasons, Ai is most likely here to stay. It is not a race against the manual process of journalism, but instead a collaborative process geared towards opening up new fields of opportunities in journalism, the news room, as well as learning new skills set for the journalist,” Omozokpea said.
Speaking on the session, Executive Director, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, 9mobile, Abdulrahman Ado, represented by 9mobile’s PR Lead, Chineze Amanfo, said that the knowledge shared during the training session has proven to be useful to all participants.
“This clearly shows that learning is a continuum in order to stay relevant as media practitioners in this emerging Artificial Intelligence (Ai) era. The need to consistently upscale skill-set in terms of modern technological tools remains crucial,” she said.
Amanfo noted that the knowledge gained by participants during the training will obviously aid them to work smarter and even create room for intelligent collaboration with their colleagues in a seamless and professional manner. She thanked everyone for attending saying the session.
