Assessing the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the media industry on the Occassion of Narad Jayanti

In the late 1980s, there was a debate between two factions of economists, with supporters of the ideas of Edward Prescott on the one hand and those grouped around the ideas of Lawrence Summers on the other.

Prescott argued that large-scale economic booms and busts were caused by “technological shocks.” Summers dismissed this notion by saying the evidence does not support these speculations.

Over the past few years, the ‘technological shock (TS)’ model of economic change has come to the fore repeatedly in various forms. A new face of TS is emerging through interrelationships between the media industry and artificial intelligence (AI).

India’s first AI news anchor

Indian news media entered into a new era when the country’s first artificial intelligence (AI) news anchor launched at India Today Conclave-2023 in the presence of exciting innovators, thought-leaders, impact creators, policymakers, and path-finders known for their driving force in respective domains.

Bot AI collaborative news anchor, Sana, has been introduced as multi-lingual, promising, charming, ageless, tireless, and a new industry future. AI technology is that there is no competition between humans and AI, at least not yet, but this combination of humans and AI will create magic, said one of the top authorities of the noted media house.

Robots replacing news anchors

Amidst the emerging circumstances, newsmakers are increasingly apprehensive that robots may replace them, and AI news anchors may open the door in television media in the coming years. This transformation coincides with the same emerging changes in digital media due to the intervention of automation tools related to news-making and distribution.

Amidst the emerging circumstances, newsmakers are increasingly apprehensive that robots may replace them, and AI news anchors may open the door in television media in the coming years

The advent of AI in the digital and television media and the continuing changes in newsrooms due to technological intervention has led to fears of job losses, especially as the adoption of AI is expected to drive global growth over the next five years. Based on surveys of over 800 companies, these findings come from the World Economic Forum (WEF). The report revealed that employers may have to create 69 million new jobs and eliminate 83 million positions by 2027. This would result in a net loss of 14 million jobs, equivalent to two percent of current employment.

The media industry is entering an era of new technology intervention in the form of AI. It is natural to change the functioning of the newsroom. But, instead of denying it, we must find ways to make it our friend. AI can provide a floor that can automate tasks like segmenting scripts, creating shortlists, storyboarding, building schedules, and leading film resources. Adopting AI enables automatic optimisation of text, visual, and voice search and facilitates the delivery of some of the most relevant search results.

ChatGPT and media

Ever since ChatGPT stepped into the world of technology, the buzz around AI has intensified. Small to big companies and from private to government institutions have started talking about it. Amid the growing popularity of AI chatbots in the country, the government has said it is not looking to regulate the expansion of AI.

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) research, AI could boost the world economy by $15.7 trillion by 2030. India will also have a big stake in this growth story. Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the government aims to make the country a global powerhouse of AI. For this, it is not enough just to add foreign chatbots; the Empowerment of crores of citizens will require next-generation AI-based innovation.

NITI Aayog has also published a series of papers titled ‘Responsible AI for All.’ Over 1,900 AI-focused startups in the country provide innovation-based solutions, especially in conversational AI, NLP (Natural Language Processing), video analytics, disease detection, fraud prevention, and counterfeit detection.

Today, there is a lot of discussion about AI Chatbots. People are making work easier with the help of these bots. AI Chatbots was already being used before the launch of ChatGPT. Government apps also take the help of AI Chatbots for responding to users, including UMANG, MyGov Helpdesk on Digilocker, Aadhaar Mitra, MyGov Corona Helpdesk, PAi NPCI AI Chatbots, Disha AI Chatbots, and BPCL’s Urja AI Chatbots.

There is always a flip side to the coin, which is why the newsmakers should not despair so soon. After the advent of computers in media houses, there was a hue and cry about reducing jobs in the industry. Some similar noises were buzzed when TV news and digital media were expanding rapidly, and it was said that digital media; would leave no space for print. We all know that digital media created many jobs, and print and TV media continues their innings.