Richard Lui, a news anchor for MSNBC and NBC, author and filmmaker, advocates for journalists to do a better job of integrating AI into their work. Otherwise, AI could have the same impact that social media did when, Lui said, journalism gave away its content.
“We can create and own the large language models, the AI engine itself and apply journalistic values to it,” said Lui. “Tell AI that it should follow more journalistic standards and procedures the way it checks sources.
“And it can be owned, perhaps by a syndicate of companies. … And then, instead of what happened when social media became a new distribution channel, with AI it could embody our journalistic ethics and we can source content.”
Lui gave the keynote address at the Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation’s symposium titled “Addressing the Impact of Social Media and Artificial Intelligence on Democracy” on April 1 at the University of Mississippi.
While Lui admits that AI will cause pivots, such as layoffs and retrenching, the news industry needs to capitalize on AI now or else other industries will.
“We’re looking for new ideas in new markets. Yes, that does mean journalism should look at how to cannibalize itself in a way,” said Lui. “But if the journalism industry does not do it, the tech industry certainly will.”
He believes it is only a matter of time before OpenAI, Google, Microsoft or Deepsea will create something robust and tailored specifically to news.
“They’re looking for new markets and sectors, and then journalism will become a non-player character yet again,” said Lui. “So that’s one consideration to pivot to secure exclusive content rights for that which we already own, for a new specific data set and also for a new specific AI or LLM (large language model). That is the opportunity to pivot and move the market.”
Lui’s experiences in journalism began long before he joined television news.
“I went to church camp in the summer for a week … and got bored, so we started a newsletter, me and my buddy in high school,” said Lui in an interview with The Daily Mississippian. “That was a silly thing that we would just write. … We were just like, ‘Oh, we’re gonna put out this news.’ So we put together this newsletter.”
Lui is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years in media, technology and business. He directed and produced documentaries for NBC Nightly News Films and, since 2010, has been a news anchor for NBC and MSNBC.
While based in New York for the news networks, Liu was confronted with a life-changing choice.
“My dad got Alzheimer’s, and I had to make a decision to change my career, to work part time,” Lui said. “I felt like that was the craziest decision ever, because it took me so long to get my job,” said Lui.
Lui described the conversation he had with his boss.
“I sat down and I told her, ‘My father’s not well. I need to take care of him. He’s in California. I’m in New York,’” Lui said. “She sat up straight in her chair … and said, ‘I got you, Richard. My mom is in Florida, and I’m caring for her.’ I was stunned.”
Lui subsequently anchored in New York on the weekends and flew to California to take care of his dad during the week. He flew 300,000 miles a year for seven years.
Lui said his caregiving journey with his father and his mother has helped him as a journalist.
“I understand life better. … I’ll ask the question that’s going down a certain road that I would not have seen earlier.”
Lui explored caregiving and mental health in two films he made, “Unconditional” and “Sky Blossom.” In “Unconditional” follows two families through their caregiving journeys. Part of the film chronicles his own experiences with his father, who died away in 2021. Today, Lui is still a caregiver for his mother.
“(During filming) I was very emotionally involved in all the families, but not to the point where I’m not able to do my job,” said Lui. “I care about them a lot because they decided to show something to that world that I think can help other people.”
Lui also has written “Enough About Me,” an anti-self self-help book that takes a business approach to measure selflessness.
“And so when we were deciding what the topic of the book should be about, I decided that the next big question was why do we do these things sometimes for other people (treat others better than yourselves), and how can I make that modern?”
