Journalism, AI and altered realities

Colin Porlezza, senior assistant professor of digital journalism at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), tackled the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) and its role in contemporary journalism in the pages of Corriere del Ticino.

Below is the full article.

The summer of 2023 was the hottest on record. In June of that year, the temperature within some editorial offices became even hotter after Axel Springer, Europe's largest publisher, announced that certain tasks of the tabloid "Bild" would be carried out by artificial intelligence (AI). According to an internal email leaked by the competition, the newspaper planned to automate the layout process, thus changing the roles of page editors and photo editors. Additionally, in the summer of 2024, some journalists in the French-speaking part of Switzerland claim to have been fired because the publishing house decided to use automated translation for texts from German into French. Consequently, original texts in French authored by human journalists are no longer considered necessary.

AI is bringing significant changes to newsrooms, redefining journalistic roles and impacting key professional activities like writing, research, and fact-checking. Generative AI, which can create realistic synthetic video, images, or audio, poses difficult challenges for newsrooms and journalists. The ease with which deepfakes can be created requires awareness of the phenomenon and the ability to use appropriate tools to identify, verify, and unmask false and misleading content generated by algorithms. An example is the creation of fake images, such as Trump's alleged arrest or Pope Francis wearing a white duvet.

Journalism's ability to identify concise content and counter misinformation is crucial for democracy and for maintaining the credibility of the media. This is especially important in their critical monitoring role within the political sphere. Verifying facts, highlighting false data, and limiting the spread of misinformation is essential in a society characterised by information overload, increasing polarisation, and populist communication. However, carrying out these operations requires specific expertise and both economic and human resources, which many media companies struggle to obtain due to current financial difficulties.

However, a recent study published by TASwiss, "Deepfakes and Manipulated Reality", reveals that deepfakes are not yet perceived as an urgent problem in Swiss newsrooms. The reason: unlike their US colleagues, Swiss journalists have not yet been victims of deepfakes, and most synthetic videos circulate in the coverage of international events, such as the war in Ukraine or Gaza. Moreover, many interviewees believe that Switzerland is not yet on the radar of deepfake producers.

Although deepfakes are not yet perceived as a serious threat in newsrooms, these contents have already made their way into the Swiss political debate. Last year, a few days before the federal elections, an SVP parliamentarian, Andreas Glarner, produced a deepfake video starring the Green Sibel Arslan. The episode led not only to a legal trial in which a Basel court ordered the removal of the video but also to a joint statement by all major parties, with the exception of the SVP, against the use of such tools.

It is essential to be critically aware of AI's potential for manipulation and the creation of altered realities in Switzerland, particularly in a direct democracy where accurate and verified information is crucial for political decision-making. The interviewed journalists acknowledge that the problem of deepfakes extends beyond content verification and requires greater public awareness.

Therefore, in addition to individual responsibility, schools, and platforms, the media can play a crucial role in raising awareness about the phenomenon by providing critical information that explains both the risks and the potential of the technology.

* Attached you can download the PDF with Professor Porlezza's article in the pages of Corriere del Ticino