To AI, or not to AI, that is the question

Regular readers of my newsletter are familiar with the current state of our news ecosystem —and even if you aren’t a regular reader, you have evidence of it on a daily basis if you consume any news anywhere.

I was having a conversation about AI with some smart folks the other day and it took a turn that I’d like to share. The question was: “Why are they using AI to make fake photos of the damage wrought by Helene? Surely, there’s an actual, real photo that they could just go there and take?”

In this case, the AI-generated image that caught on like wildfire was spread on social media and not in news media outlets. 

Still, it bears repeating that there are just not a lot of people in most newsrooms to “just go there.” At the last legacy newsroom I worked in, I was the managing editor of a staff of about 140 FTEs (full-time equivalents). And now, there’s about seven people for the whole shebang.

Seven.

Some folks don’t really understand what’s happened. In a nutshell, there were days long ago when families owed the local paper — and the profits were significant enough that it made those families wealthy. 

Over time, the sons and daughters of the founders lost interest in keeping it family owned and looked to sell, which led to the rule of chains like Gannett. When the competition with online news and advertising hit, many of those companies looked to offload news outlets and ushered in the era of what many of us in the news business call the bottom feeders, like hedge funds.

Our own Philadelphia Inquirer escaped that particular fate — bought by H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest in 2014, who subsequently donated it and its sister, the Daily News, to the Philadelphia Foundation. But no one thinks the Inky is on easy street. It needs subscribers.

(Read more about the trials and tribulations of keeping the Philadelphia Inquirer profitable and journalistically sound in Wikipedia. Have a read about its bumpy history.)

Not to toot my own horn here, but one of the reasons I started Delaware Currents is to explain as honestly as I can what is happening to our great river and to help readers understand both the problems and solutions available to us, the river’s caretakers.

My notion was to help fill in a yawning gap in regional environmental coverage in the watershed and to bring readers coverage they would find nowhere else.

As I said in in my previous newsletter, despite the ongoing plea for support you hear from me, please hold off on donating until Nov.1, when your donation will have twice the impact as part of NewsMatch.

And, just for transparency’s sake: I have not yet used AI in anything for Delaware Currents. I am, however, CONSIDERING using AI to develop the many emails I will be sending out during NewsMatch to make those pleas as irresistible as possible.

What do you think? Is it a good idea to use this tool in a way that might help Delaware Currents to stay in business? 

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for reading and I’d really appreciate hearing from you.

Meg