AI is evolving faster than the news can tell you what’s happening
The next time a major tech company releases a new artificial intelligence model, open three different news websites. Chances are, the stories look familiar.
While it didn’t take off immediately, news coverage of AI exploded in 2023, outpacing other major tech stories like cryptocurrency. But as coverage has expanded over the years, researchers, media critics and journalists covering the beat have begun examining whether the ways outlets report on the topic hold up.
Writing in the Columbia Journalism Review in 2023, Oxford Internet Institute and Tow Center fellow Felix M. Simon said news coverage of AI takes the pattern of a “hype cycle.”
The cycle starts when new technology leads some to some wild expectations and promises before the media splits it into two categories: dystopian or utopian. Finally, Simon said that after months, more nuanced coverage emerges.
“That’s when the cycle starts to cool off again,” he said.
How is AI reported?
Like a shockwave after a bomb, AI news coverage follows an announcement. Sometimes that release is a new model, while other times it’s a new study.
“Companies are constantly introducing new models, products, and features that generate news coverage,” said Marisa Porto, the Knight Chair in Local News and Sustainability at the University of North Carolina’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media.
But while that coverage may ask and even answer important questions, Porto said there are still pieces missing.
“What is missing is follow-up reporting,” Porto told Straight Arrow. “Did the product actually work? Did people adopt it? Did it solve a problem? What are the tradeoffs or impacts? These are the kinds of questions that take longer to answer, but by then we’ve often moved on to the next new thing.”
Simon said he’s noticed a trend in reporting to accept AI developers’ claims without serious scrutiny, even as journalists recognize the technology’s current and future implications.
The focus, Simon said, lands on big model releases while underestimating what effects the technology already has and will have moving forward.
Why does this happen?
The biggest issue with reporting on AI is the speed, according to Porto. Since new developments happen so quickly and new releases are announced consistently, newsrooms can’t keep up, let alone really dive deep into a single report.
She also acknowledged that the industry doesn’t like news that’s, well, not new. Even a day late can be detrimental to a story.
“The system rewards what’s new to the marketplace,” Porto told Straight Arrow.
According to Charlie Warzel, a staff writer for The Atlantic who’s been covering tech for nearly two decades, there’s also another reason why AI stories come off as repetitive.
“You feel like the whole world’s talking about something because your timeline is talking about it,” Warzel told Straight Arrow. “Journalists have always kind of had in the Twitter era this kind of swarming effect.”
But that’s not the only reason journalists are swarming around AI, according to Warzel. He said it didn’t help that some of the most prominent voices in AI told the public that their product would put most people out of a job.
But reporters need to ask about those comments, according to Warzel, since that’s a big part of a journalist’s job.
It’s not just the media
While it may be easy to point a finger and move on, experts don’t believe the media is the only factor at play. Tech companies, the companies creating these AI chatbots, have massive sway over what gets shown on the internet.
Big Tech, like Google or Meta, can shift what gets shown on their sites, influencing what the public talks about, according to Porto. She said that the pressure from tech companies forces journalists into a rapid-fire reporting rate.
“It’s difficult for news organizations to devote resources to deeper reporting on AI or anything else when they are operating under this kind of economic environment,” Porto told Straight Arrow. “As a result, audiences often get more of what’s new and less of what’s nuanced.”
How can AI coverage change?
For journalists covering the beat, the question is what better coverage looks like. Porto said that journalists need to start asking deeper questions.
“Coverage about AI should go beyond product releases and ask tougher questions,” she said. “Is it solving a problem? Who benefits from it? What are the tradeoffs? How is it affecting people and communities?”
Warzel suggests journalists should remain focused on the now. He said this can be harder since Big Tech has its “builder ethos” and always looks towards what’s next. But Warzel emphasized that a “healthy press” needs to focus on what’s possible now, not on hypotheticals in the future.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
