Can artificial intelligence replace the role of journalists?

In recent years, we have seen that press agencies have gradually applied the achievements of artificial intelligence technology and expertise in creating works. For example: analyzing user data, creating virtual MCs, building chatbots, creating automatic subtitles, "tear-off tape" to convert audio files into text, censoring and reviewing copyright, managing information, editing videos, creating article structures, drawing pictures, sketching film set backgrounds, designing posters, creating infographics...

Modern journalist with artificial intelligence tools, photo created by ChatGPT. Illustration photo

At the individual level, each journalist can also use free AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, Canva, Magisto, InVideo, PressAssistant... in the basic work of the profession which is searching, discovering, developing topics; collecting, processing information, data and presenting works. In just a moment, ChatGPT can immediately write a 2,000-word commentary, can come up with 5-10 headline options for an article, can check all spelling errors in the article... This "capacity" of AI has made many people exclaim: Can artificial intelligence replace the role of journalists?

AI can write articles, but…

Artificial intelligence (AI) is just a tool. It is not capable of assessing the social context or motives behind information, which can easily lead to the reproduction of fake news or biased content without verification. AI does not “understand” the world like humans. It only learns to predict the next word based on a probability model from the learned data, but does not distinguish between right and wrong. If the topic the user asks does not have enough information in the training data, AI can… create content to “fill the gap”. This phenomenon is called AI hallucination by experts - a serious and common problem in the process of using language models such as ChatGPT.

And it is clear to all of us that AI cannot replace journalists in collecting event data, experiencing reality - from investigating the scene, interviewing witnesses to sensing the social context - which professional journalists always have to do.

There is also the risk of plagiarism or copying information without citing the source. AI lacks professional ethics - which creates the courage and responsibility of a journalist in serving the truth and the public. In addition, overusing AI can lead to content homogenization, killing the creative personality and unique voice that are the soul of journalism.

Therefore, AI can create journalistic works, but for the work to be usable, it must have the "directing" hand of a journalist, that is, the journalist must know how to control AI as a tool.

What AI can't replace journalists?

AI does not have the intuition, social sense or “professional instinct” of a true investigative journalist. Journalists should not worry that AI will replace them; it can replace some repetitive tasks (like correcting spelling mistakes), but it cannot detect and pursue the truth.

AI is a robot, so it cannot build relationships with sources, or ask questions to trick, criticize, or interrogate during the investigation process. Modern journalism needs the role of consulting, criticizing, and guiding writers. AI cannot replace journalists in life experiences to deeply understand social issues, ethics, prejudices, history, and gray areas in information. And AI is a robot, so it cannot convey emotions, personal tone, and empathy - which are important factors to move the public.

And of course, journalists and newsrooms are personally and legally responsible to the public and the law. AI is not. Issues of bias, prejudice, or fake news all require a final verifier.

In addition, AI can imitate, but cannot create a new style, unique language, or unprecedented approach. Excellent articles often come from personal experience, collision with reality. In other words, AI cannot have the ability to tell unique and creative stories, an important requirement for creating good journalism.

Journalists in the AI ​​era

Obviously, journalists now have to live with AI in their work if they want to be good. However, AI only supports individual journalists well in tasks that automate repetitive tasks such as automatic translation, spell checking, summarizing press releases, summarizing financial reports or writing descriptive, neutral articles that do not require emotion or investigation.

Journalists can use AI to support quick analysis and research, synthesize documents, extract key ideas from thousands of documents in a short time; support automatic creation of charts and infographics...

AI - as said - cannot replace journalists, especially in the process of creating political journalism and investigative journalism.

But to exploit AI well, journalists also need to be equipped with professional knowledge and technological thinking. Journalists must clearly understand the operating principles of AI to ask questions (prompting) effectively. Modern journalists must know how to combine AI to support information collection, content analysis, data construction, while still ensuring the editing and verification roles of humans.

Journalists must master technology rather than rely on it: avoid relying on AI to mass-generate content without human moderation, direction, or creativity. AI can synthesize quickly, but it cannot replace human verification. Journalists must be ultimately responsible for accuracy and honesty.

Experts recommend that if AI is used to generate part or all of an article, this information should be transparent (to some extent) in the article.

In short, AI is a tool – not a journalist. Future journalists must not only “write well” but also “write smart”, combining technology, data, and humanity to create information that is trustworthy, in-depth, and inspiring.

Phan Van Tu

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/xa-hoi/202506/tri-tue-nhan-tao-co-thay-the-duoc-vai-tro-nha-bao-ee105c1/