THE new Dromana Pier according to space tourism website space-axiom.com (left), and the new Dromana Pier according to Parks Victoria (right). Pictures: Space-axiom.com and Parks Victoria
EDITORIAL
MORNINGTON Peninsula News Group celebrates its 20th anniversary this August.
It has been an incredible journey, and we are very proud that we have been able to continue through numerous challenges along the way.
But perhaps the greatest challenge we face is the rise of artificial intelligence.
Already on the Mornington Peninsula there is media that uses AI to write articles to keep you, the members of the community, informed.
What’s the problem with that?
News written by computers, sometimes with very little human intervention, can give wildly inaccurate information, and create a world of parallel reality.
Take, for example the pictures above. These are two realities of what the Dromana Pier will look like once rebuilt.
One is an AI generated depiction published by an American space tourism website, probably with little to no human intervention. The other is from Parks Victoria.
The AI article has pulled information from press releases about the rebuilding of the pier, with enough truth to convince the reader of its authenticity, and also added other information that is inaccurate.
The finished article misleads the reader with a wildly inaccurate picture, also AI generated.
In our business, we are dealing daily with submissions; articles and letters, that are AI generated, and have been refusing these contributions.
The reason is simple.
Asking an AI engine to “write me a 300 word letter about waste management” and sending it to the local newspaper is not the same as writing a 300 word letter on waste management and sending it to the local newspaper. It is artificial, and has zero value to our readers.
The only contribution the writer is making is writing the prompt for the AI engine, and then the computer does the rest.
On refusal of their AI contribution, one of the contributors sent a long email as to why failing to embrace AI will be the end of our business (ironically, the email was also written by AI).
We think it is up to the community what type of information they want. Stories written by humans, or stories generated by artificial intelligence. In the end, the community will get the news they choose to support.
If you believe it is important to have humans write the stories about what matters in your community, we ask for your help.
We encourage local businesses to support the only remaining local newspaper in the market.
Buy an ad. When businesses buy ads, we need to add more pages to the newspaper. Those pages then need stories. The more ads we have each week, the more stories we have each week.
We encourage readers to visit our Press Patron page at mpnews.presspatron.com to support our journalism. It is vital we have the funds to keep producing the accurate information you need.
To have journalists hold those that are in power to account makes the peninsula a better place for everybody.
Without it, those in power can write and say whatever they want, and the AI engines will republish it as fact. No questions asked. No analysis. No fighting for the people.
Is that what you want?
