What's the most important question right now?

As a futures researcher who firmly believes that the future is open and can be shaped, the most important question is: What is good journalism? How do journalists want to work? And how can journalism be valuable for its audience? These types of questions also regularly come up in our research on AI and journalism. What I want to highlight is that, at first, they have nothing to do with AI or any other technology. It's about stepping back and assessing what journalism should ideally be at its core.

However, the most interesting question I discussed at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia was: What is a sufficient reason to not use AI?

Are we taking AI seriously enough?

Despite what I said above about taking some time to think about journalism and not technology, it is great to see that the news industry is discussing AI and all its implications intensely. At the IJF, it was easy to fill every day of the festival with sessions about AI. 'I research AI in journalism' turned out to be a real conversation starter, as everyone had already given the topic some thought.

However, talking about something is not the same as taking it seriously. Even if journalism is not sufficiently holding tech companies accountable, as Lisa-Marie Eckardt emphasised in this newsletter concerning journalistic workflows, I would say that the industry is taking it very seriously. In the sessions at IJF and in the conversations I had, all kinds of risks were discussed. While journalism is not shying away from these discussions, it remains to be seen whether this will result in sufficient action. As Feli Carrique (News Product Alliance) said in a session at the IJF, we do not meet ourselves out of this problem. Anita Zielina (Better Leaders Lab) added: we do ourselves out of it. Seeing networks and initiatives emerge that are banking on the power of collaboration is one indicator for me to be optimistic.

The only thing missing from most of these conversations is a serious consideration of the sustainability issue — and that's putting it mildly — of AI training and use.

What's a good hobby to pick up?

I started knitting almost at the same time as I started this research. It keeps you calm and busy at the same time, and you actually produce something you can wear and be proud of. You can also listen to podcasts while doing it, for example the new episode of our institute's podcast about our research in the ComAI project (in German). Knitting also has a positive effect on your brain that I can’t really explain, but some of my best ideas have come to me while I wind down with knitting. For all of you who do not want to sit more than they have to anyway, I highly recommend training for a marathon. You'll be grateful that your job allows you to sit down.