Istanbul: Artificial intelligence (AI) getting out of control is problematic, but its falling under the control of bad, immoral and genocidal people is a much bigger problem, Anadolu CEO Serdar Karagoz said on Thursday.
According to Anadolu Agency, Karagoz attended GITEX AI Trkiye, held at Istanbul Expo Center and hosted by the Presidential Finance and Investment Office with the strategic support of the Industry and Technology Ministry, where Anadolu acts as the global communications partner. Speaking at the panel titled "Creative Industries Rewired - What Happens When AI Enters the Studio?" moderated by Gokhan Yucel, the head of the Communications Department of Trkiye's Finance and Investment Office, Karagoz said AI will greatly change media and journalism activities, just as it does every area of life.
Explaining that AI will change the consumption process of media content along with the production process, Karagoz defined AI as a greater change than all previous changes. Noting that AI will also completely change journalism, Karagoz said unmanned journalism, journalism with fewer people and faster journalism will be possible.
Emphasizing that Anadolu assigns some tasks to AI in its operations, Karagoz stated that AI achieved success in fulfilling these tasks. Giving an example from Anadolu's news monitoring module, Karagoz said reporters used to get the first news from a police radio or personal witnessing, but now a defined module in the social media system triggers an alarm when a user uploads a photo of an accident at the 67th kilometer of the Northern Marmara Motorway, allowing the agency to evaluate it as a tip and quickly send a reporter to the scene. Underlining that AI is also useful in perfectly applying spelling rules, Karagoz noted that they previously employed copy editors for this purpose but will no longer hire in this field.
Pointing out that AI does not play a role in the decision-making phase, Karagoz added that a decision-making AI module might be emerging while this panel is being held. Karagoz mentioned that an AI module deciding which is good and which is bad might be under development right now, but such an agent does not exist at the moment. He stated that humans decide what it should be directed to because humans hold the will, conscience and responsibility.
Stressing that the final consumer has started to care about who wrote the news and who will take responsibility for it, Karagoz said an AI engine cannot say it wrote the news and holds the responsibility. Karagoz highlighted that humans possess the final decision, will, responsibility and the ability to distinguish between good and bad. Raising the critical question of whether AI makes news agencies less or more important, he said the importance of news agencies increases in an environment where everyone has the ability to produce news thanks to AI. He added that people will want to get news from a corporate structure that inspires trust, has a sense of responsibility and stands behind its news.
Karagoz stated that while they are speeding up in terms of production, they are also reaching a more reliable and important point in terms of news consumption thanks to AI. Stating that the daily AI usage rate of news producers reached 75%, Karagoz noted that journalists will eventually reach a position where they are faster and make fewer mistakes.
Emphasizing that journalists will gradually move from routine news production to a decision-making position, Karagoz said a good journalist will be one who makes good decisions and uses AI instruments well. Karagoz predicted that journalists will demonstrate more value-centered decision-making actions in the coming days, weeks and months, which will increase the importance of journalism. He added that there will be a journalism where costs are reduced and time is used efficiently on one hand, while its importance increases on the other.
Karagoz said the values of corporate structures like news agencies will increase over time. Pointing out that Anadolu discusses being a journalist in an AI-powered world as a vision, Karagoz reminded that there used to be a single newspaper, then regional newspapers emerged, and later newspapers started providing sports and automobile supplements to customize for the consumer. Karagoz stated that media organizations will now customize more specifically and this will happen thanks to AI. He added that journalists will use all these AI tools during the decision-making phase to create personalized news that the consumer desires.
Mentioning that the greatest changes in the world started with the invention of the printing press, Karagoz said the printing press facilitated the spread of knowledge but it could not write a Shakespeare piece or Ibn Tufail's Hayy ibn Yaqdhan. Karagoz said AI also cannot put forward a new scientific theory while discovering the codes of DNA. Drawing attention to the fact that AI cannot dream, Karagoz said AI can produce an illusion or hallucinate, but it cannot dream. Karagoz stated that this is the biggest problem and when it is solved, humanity might face what the people who resigned in fear from big AI companies predicted.
Touching upon the consequences of AI getting out of control, Karagoz said AI getting out of control is a problem but its falling under the control of bad, immoral and genocidal people is a much bigger problem.