In an age when it feels as if life as we know it could soon be taken over by artificial intelligence, it is easy to assume that occupations requiring employees to write thousands of words a day could be replaced with AI.
However, the most important thing to remember in this discourse is that AI cannot function properly without humans giving it a basis of work. These machines need human intelligence to function, not the other way around.
To clarify, AI cannot compose original thoughts or ideas; it can only summarize and reword the information it has access to and the information humans prompt it with. Because of this, language-generating AI only has the capacity to write vague, objective content about events that have already been reported on.
In essence, an AI may have the ability to write an article about the pros and cons of Michael Jordan versus LeBron James, for example, but it will not give you its definitive opinion of who it believes to be better.
Even with these limitations, AI has the potential to assist journalists in producing content more efficiently. While AI cannot write pieces that fans can really connect with, it can proficiently summarize well-known events.
Reporters can use this to their advantage. Surface-level research can now be summarized by AI in a matter of seconds, cutting the prewriting stage of composing in half.
The use of AI on the field could also boost reporting efficiency. In some facilities, companies use data analysis and movement tracking AI to pinpoint athletes’ strengths, flaws, endurance and even to predict injury.
At a high media coverage event like the NFL combine, for example, this technology could give a data-backed, objective breakdown of each player as he performs his tryout. Pair that information with a language generating AI, and reporters have a data-backed summary of each player on which to base their opinion articles.
Moreover, with the rise of podcasts and independent commentators, it is clear that modern sports fans are looking for a new type of content about their favorite teams. While AI cannot write articles to satisfy this need, it can produce and suggest other types of media tailored to fans’ individual preferences.
AI can predict individual fans’ interests and suggest related content in ways that traditional website algorithms have never been able to before. Using this personalized prediction, AI can also organize highlight reels specifically curated for each fan’s personal viewing experience.
Sports reporting websites could also implement AI chatbots to answer questions for fans looking for singular, straightforward answers like the score of a game or the graduating year of a college athlete.
The best content comes from reporters who are excited to write. These AI implementations could ensure that sports journalists get to focus on the complex, hard-hitting stories, while AI can take over the more basic information.
Contrary to the doomsday theories of an AI-driven death of journalism altogether, the art of sports journalism can, in fact, be supported with the help of AI.
