Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1499533
5.12.19 12 OPINION 18.5.2023 Alexiei Dingli Prof Alexiei Dingli is a Professor of AI at the University of Malta and has been conducting research and working in the field of AI for more than two decades, assisting different companies to implement AI solutions. He forms part of the Malta.AI task-force, set up by the Maltese government, aimed at making Malta one of the top AI countries in the world The crumbling of the Fourth Estate T he notion of the fourth estate, traditionally re- ferring to the press as a societal watchdog, is facing an unprecedented crisis. is prob- lem is a long-unfolding saga which has been gradually re- shaping our information ecosys- tem since the start of the digital revolution. e decline of print media, marked by dwindling newspaper sales and the digital pivot of numerous media hous- es, has drastically altered the in- dustry. As technology continues to innovate, the traditional press finds itself in a tumultuous bal- ancing act between maintaining relevance and succumbing to obsolescence. Modern media houses in- creasingly opt for digital platforms over the tradition- al paper form, incorporating strategies from paywalls to advertisements. This shift has seen the landscape evolve into a digital realm where content is king. Many have taken on a magazine-like appeal, pack- aging their offerings in visual- ly engaging formats that of- ten include images or videos. However, this digital revolu- tion has not been without its pitfalls. The drive to generate website traffic has resulted in a surge of sensationalism and a proliferation of clickbait ti- tles, compromising the integ- rity of some outlets. Since the rise of 'headline surfing' has become a pre- dominant behaviour in our current media landscape, this shift is unsurprising when one considers that media houses need online traffic to survive. Rather than delving into full articles, readers often engage with news content based pri- marily on appealing titles. Ac- cording to a study conducted by scientists at Columbia Uni- versity and the French Nation- al Institute, about 60% of peo- ple admit to sharing articles on social media based on the headline alone, without even reading the body of the article. But when the content with- in these articles is misleading or questionable, the problem becomes more severe. High- lighting this, a study from MIT found that false news stories are 70% more likely to be retweeted than true ones. is trend of superficial en- gagement with news, powered by enticing headlines and the ease of sharing on social plat- forms, fuels the dissemination of misinformation, eroding public comprehension of cru- cial topics. At the heart of this evolu- tion is an emerging trend that threatens to destabilize the media landscape further: the rise of generative models like ChatGPT. Tech giants such as Microsoft and Google have begun to harness the power of these models, creating search engines that synthesize and summarize information di- rectly rather than merely re- directing users to web pages. Microsoft's Bing Chat and Google's BART are prime ex- amples of this new breed of information brokers. While these models still provide links to the source article, their main goal is to provide users with the infor- mation they seek instantly. This immediacy is a dou- ble-edged sword; while un- doubtedly convenient for the user, it could lead to a decline in website visits, fur- ther impacting media outlets' already strained ad revenue. With the availability of infor- mation, paywalls, a common monetization strategy, have struggled to gain widespread acceptance, leaving media houses in a precarious posi- tion. The industry's competition with the twin spectres of fake news and automated news generated by AI systems is an increasingly pressing con- cern. As machine learning models become more sophis- ticated, they can churn out news-like articles, sometimes indistinguishable from hu- man-written content. This rapidly advancing technolo- gy, while impressive, raises serious questions about the future of journalism and the role of media houses in our society. Are we witnessing the twi- light of traditional media houses, their place in the in- formation hierarchy usurped by AI? It's a troubling ques- tion that prompts us to con- sider the implications. Without the need for human journalists, we risk losing crit- ical thinking, the pursuit of truth, the context, and the em- pathy that they bring to their reporting. Machine-generated articles may lack the nuance and depth from years of expe- rience in the field. Moreover, the risk of AI systems being manipulated to spread dis- information is a realistic and present danger, further mud- dying the waters of an already complex media landscape. As we move into this AI age, media houses must adapt or risk becoming relics of a bygone era. They will need to innovate, harnessing the power of AI while maintain- ing their commitment to quality journalism. This could mean using AI for data anal- ysis, freeing up journalists to focus on in-depth reporting, or adopting machine learning to personalize news delivery without sacrificing accuracy and objectivity. The Fourth Estate crisis is, in reality, a reflection of a broader, transformative shift in our society – the transition from traditional forms of me- dia to digital and AI-driven platforms. In navigating this change, we must preserve the core principles of journalism – truth, accountability, and the public interest – while embracing the potential of new technologies. Only then can we ensure that the future of news remains vibrant, reli- able, and above all, human.