Google News Boss Predicts AI ‘ChatGPT’ to Replace Journalists

In a recent op-ed for the Washington Post, former senior director of Google News, Jim Albrecht, presented an intriguing idea for the future of journalism. He believes that modern large language models (LLMs), such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, could revolutionize the news industry, just like the internet did in the early 2000s. Albrecht explains that before the internet, people relied on traditional media like television and print news for information. The emergence of web-based news platforms changed everything, making news easily accessible with just a few clicks.

Despite this shift, Albrecht argues that news articles themselves have remained relatively unchanged. But with the introduction of ChatGPT, a new paradigm for news consumption has emerged. OpenAI’s ChatGPT service, launched in November 2022, initially allowed users to retrieve information from sources predating 2021. In a little over a year, ChatGPT and similar models have been able to access and rephrase current news articles, offering users an aggregated news experience in a single interaction.

Albrecht envisions a future where readers would shift their attention from static news articles to interactive journalism experiences led by chatbots like ChatGPT. Instead of engaging directly with the articles, users would interact with these “intelligent agents” to discuss and ask questions about the content. Albrecht believes that AI sources capable of engaging in conversations about news articles could become increasingly preferred by readers over human journalists, who are limited in their capacity to interact with millions of people simultaneously.

It’s worth noting that the idea of traditional journalism being replaced by technology has been proposed by big tech companies since 2015, when Facebook turned its focus to video content. The transition did not result in the demise of online print media as anticipated. Although ChatGPT and similar models have gained prominence, news outlets experimenting with AI-generated articles have experienced mixed results. Some trials have been successful, especially when full disclosure is ensured, while others have faced backlash due to mistakes and a lack of transparency, causing alienation among their established readers.

Albrecht’s vision of the future of journalism involves a shift towards interactive journalism experiences led by AI chatbots like ChatGPT. While this potential transformation in news consumption is intriguing, it remains to be seen whether it will truly replace traditional journalism or simply exist alongside it as another option for readers.