In this episode of AI in Journalism, host Yumi Wilson talks to Dan Greco, the product lead at Futurepedia. Futerpedia is a free platform dedicated to demystifying AI and its applications for professionals across various industries. With a passion for technology and education, Dan has played a pivotal role in shaping Futurepedia’s offerings, which include a comprehensive analysis of AI tools, practical guides, and an interactive community for AI enthusiasts.
Join us as we explore how AI is reshaping journalism and impacting education. However, the implications for professionals in various industries are growing.
Dan will share his insights on AI’s positive impacts, such as improving efficiency and even assisting in early disease detection. We’ll also tackle the challenging questions surrounding AI, including the ethical considerations of automation in journalism and the role of AI in fact-checking and content creation.
We discuss Futurepedia’s role in helping professionals navigate the crowded landscape of AI tools, ensuring they find applications that genuinely enhance their work without compromising quality. Plus, we’ll get a sneak peek into some must-have AI tools for journalists and communicators and discuss the broader implications of AI on the job market and workplace dynamics.
Stay tuned as we delve into these topics and more, ensuring you’re up-to-date with the latest discussions at the intersection of AI and journalism.
Time stamps:
(05:00) What AI integration in media writing can offer education and SF University AI policy
(09:31) HARPA discussion – a browser extension for quick web summaries and AI assistance.
(14:27) Futurepedia helps navigate overwhelming new AI tools and strives to be a free resource.
(16:07) Discussion about the effectiveness of ChatGPT.
(20:01) Are our prompts training AI? Should we pass on our knowledge like this?
(26:09) Hollywood using AI leads to minimal screen time for actors.
(28:44) Where’s the balance between journalism and teaching with AI tools?
(31:10) Impressive AI future developments are expected in the next year to 5 years.
(35:13) Optimistic outlook on technology’s positive impact on life.
Quotes:
“Futurepedia has grown to serve over 5 million users, helping them harness the power of AI to advance their careers and enhance their workplace efficiencies.”
“I’ll find myself going back to chat GPT because it just seems to produce the results I need.”
“I had started to create a custom GPT that kind of centered around journalism, but then I kind of stopped because I was wondering, if I create all of this, then is it like I’m doing all the work and then it’s just like non, it’s unpaid labor, really.”
“I feel like we’re feeding this nucleus of a place where all of this information will be transferred or given to others and through the generations.”
“Essentially, the democratization of global knowledge is just even more accessible than when the Internet began to take off.”
“I feel like I learned the most from my college experience from interacting with people and professors and being immersed in an environment that was all human.”
“For journalism, social media would be a really complimentary skill to acquire and learn how to cultivate your own audience. That kind of becomes something that you own. If you have 10,000 or 20,000 LinkedIn followers that are going to see everything that you post, that’s yours, and that really enables so much opportunity for you.”
“I think ultimately, people love helping people and supporting people, not really supporting the money hungry movie studio for abusing this technology to produce something significantly cheaper.”
“I think in general, a lot of businesses are going to leverage AI more operationally to be efficient and less on the generative side because that might ultimately end up being, again, like a negative for them, that they didn’t really support the creative people.”
“I could definitely see a lot of really impressive things coming from coming to smartphones directly.”
“So maybe instead of working five days a week, it’s now three, or maybe it’s four or 5 hours a day instead of eight or nine.”
“I feel like all of these new advances are helping people.”
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Further Info:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmgreco/
Personal Website: https://dan-greco.com/
Futurepedia – https://www.futurepedia.io/
Feedly – https://feedly.com/
HARPA AI – https://harpa.ai/
Giga Brain – https://thegigabrain.com/
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