Madhav Chinnappa on How to Get from an Electric Bike to a Jet Plane Phase of Using Generative AI in Journalism and Beyond

Technology has a value but doesn't have values, reminds us Madhav Chinnappa. It's up to us humans who have values to define how the technology will be used and whether it will bring more good than evil.

The majority of us are now in a so-called efficiency phase of using AI tools, thinking mainly about how to optimise things. However, those who will jump to a creativity phase more quickly will have an advantage. Ask yourself which phase you are in now. And if you are still only in the first one, you really should be thinking about how to move on to the second, and quickly.

Main Topics We Discussed in This Episode:

• How we use AI without realising we are doing it
• From an electric bike phase of AI to jet airplane - and how the jet airplane phase will transform storytelling
• Free tools versus paid tools
• Content creation versus business model
• Licensing and how platforms can compensate content creators: what is fair?
• Is Human Native a sort of eBay where the rights holders and AI developers meet?
• Extractive versus sustaining technology
• Interest in non-English languages and how you as a non-English speaker/data owner can use this as an advantage
• Common patterns of how newsrooms use or misuse generative AI
• AI won't replace you - it will augment you
• Misconception of traffic and how some newsrooms will pay a price for that
• What aspects of using generative AI we are not thinking about
• Ethical considerations and risks
• Efficiency play versus creativity, audience-focused play
• How AI technology changes your audience's behaviour and what it means for the journalism industry
• The reality about the audience's view on AI will not be defined by news; it will be defined by other parts of their life
• Should we label AI-generated or human-created content, or both?
• Trust and interdependency of different industries and how they use generative AI
• Do generative AI tools reduce the amount of intention and meaning in the world?
• Do we as journalists have agency to influence how AI technology is developing, and if you feel you don't - what to do to have more agency