Journalists need to improve their ability to identify "true-fake" information in the AI era

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Vietnamese Revolutionary Press, a reporter from the Vietnam News Agency in Moscow had a conversation with Mr. Leonid Kovalich, Head of the Asia Department, External Broadcasting Department of Sputnik news agency, about current issues of journalism as well as cooperation between the Vietnam News Agency and Sputnik.

Journalist Leonid Kovalich says modern technologies are changing the entire face of the information space. Journalism is an inseparable part of this space and must be the first to adapt to new possibilities.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is penetrating our lives very quickly. Just 5 years ago, people could not even imagine that there was such a thing as an algorithm, even though social networks had already begun to develop.

And now, the way people consume information has completely changed. The number of people using and accessing content on traditional mass media - newspapers, television, radio - has decreased, the number of people using social networks has increased, especially among young people.

Mr. Kovalich admitted that AI supports the rapid dissemination of information, and traditional press agencies actively use AI in image editing, news/article title writing, text translation, and analysis of large volumes of information...

These are areas where AI can complete tasks in seconds and greatly assist in work. However, journalist Kovalich emphasized that AI has a dark side.

Firstly, when receiving content on social networks, people cannot always distinguish between fake news and real news, so journalists themselves need to have high levels of expertise and experience in their products, to create recognition of their real information against fake news.

The second thing is very important, that is, the display of information is now also decided by algorithms. Therefore, journalists, news agencies, and press agencies need to pay attention to not only the speed of information but more importantly, the way of presenting information to ensure the principles of that information platform.

Journalist Kovalich said Sputnik believes that AI and new technologies are tools to enrich content. The company once tested the production of a news video entirely using AI, from script writing, running headlines, editing images... to see the great capabilities that AI brings.

AI can read news, AI can host programs 24/7 without rest. Therefore, he emphasized that there is no need to be afraid, but on the contrary, we need to actively apply it to promote the great benefits that AI brings.

Technology can hardly replace the on-site work of reporters from press agencies. (Photo: Xuan Trieu/VNA)

He also emphasized that like any other tool, AI needs human control. Therefore, according to him, the view that journalism is a profession that is being replaced by AI is wrong.

Even with the general concern about jobs that will lose out as AI develops, in the near future, AI cannot replace humans. Only humans can control, verify information, and evaluate sensitive political events, which only an experienced journalist can do.

Referring to the digital transformation trend at Sputnik, journalist Kovalich said that AI is used in many areas of the news agency's operations, especially in translation, because Sputnik produces news in 30 languages around the world .

However, he stressed that at Sputnik, people are always the last stop in the news production process. And because journalists always have to rely on technological tools, the news agency regularly organizes training courses, presentations of software, technological solutions, and trends.

In addition to the IT department, there are also experts in the field of AI, which can be in the digital product production department. They have experience and they share it to support colleagues in using AI effectively and safely.

Regarding the cooperation between Sputnik and Vietnam News Agency, journalist Kovalich said that in terms of news related to Vietnam, with the resources and function of providing first-hand, objective, and authentic information, Vietnam News Agency is even bigger than Sputnik.

Thanks to the cooperation agreement between the two sides, Sputnik has an important source of information for its readers about Vietnam. He hopes that the cooperation between the two sides will expand to new areas of technology.

According to Mr. Kovalich, today we talk a lot about large language models, ChatGPT, DeepSeek… all of which are trained on a large amount of data, and most of it is English data. This data is created by humans and can be completely political.

To balance that, we need Vietnam News Agency and Sputnik, media agencies that understand better than anyone else the history of their country, their national culture, and what is happening in their country.

He stressed that both sides need to cooperate to obtain authentic source information and not be influenced by ideological colors./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/nha-bao-can-nang-cao-trinh-do-nhan-dien-thong-tin-that-gia-trong-ky-nguyen-ai-post1044775.vnp