Fox News Embraces AI to Build ‘Newsroom Tools’ as CEO Says the Technology Is ‘Not a Job Eliminator’
AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura
Fox News Media has been using AI for the past year to build “a suite of custom AI newsroom tools,” and Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott is encouraging young people to embrace the technology.
Porter Berry, Fox News Digital president and editor-in-chief and president of new media, revealed to Axios on Tuesday that Fox News has been working with Palantir to develop these new “newsroom tools.” Palantir was hired to “build a digital twin” of the business “mirroring the workflows, data, tools and systems the company uses to produce and publish its digital journalism,” Berry told Axios.
The initial goal was to to take on “repeatable, mundane tasks” like tagging posts and using SEO keywords. The tools now “help journalists discover, produce and distribute stories across Fox News’ platforms and social media.” Berry said it’s strictly a business deal and Fox retains all the rights to their intellectual property.
Berry was clear that AI will not be used to generate editorial content, but he broke down three specific areas where the media company has embraced the technology as a tool.
One tool, called “topic radar,” provides a “briefing” to a reporter that allows them to understand the background of a story quickly. The other major tools, “text editor” and “article insights,” allow copy to be evaluated to make sure it conforms to the company’s style, as well as tracking the performance of certain works and providing insights in how the story could have been “improved” or “optimized” to get more clicks.
Scott tackled the topic of AI while speaking at an event last week at the University of South Carolina where she encouraged students to embrace AI as a tool.
“To me, AI is not a job eliminator,” she said.
Scott argued there is too much “doomerism” being pushed by critics of AI.
“I actually believe there’s too much doomerism in the storytelling of AI,” she said. “I actually think AI tools are rapidly growing and anybody who’s young should be getting themselves educated about different AI tools in different industries and how they’re going to be using them.”
Scott encouraged students to become “early adapters” of AI so they can be “way ahead of” their bosses when they join the workforce.
“The C word, change. You have to embrace change,” she said. “It’s here, there are tools that are going to help you do your job more efficiently, more strategically.”
