AI can write stories, but it can't tell yours

Somebody told me that journalism is dead. It is true that the industry has been struggling since the dawn of the internet and artificial intelligence seems to be poised to finish it off, but it's not dead. Perhaps this is our opportunity to see it meaningfully evolve Thanks to the internet, we have taught an entire population to read for free. That expectation began by underestimating the role the internet would have in everyday media consumption. According to the Pew Research Center, since 2011, more U.S. residents access digital sites to get their news online than in print newspapers. When newspapers first came online, they brought the same old models with them. Print papers were sold via subscription, and they also sold ads. Now, they want to sell you a digital subscription and when you click on the links, you also have ads. The only problem is there are so many other points of access to journalism online for free that people don't want to buy a subscription. On top of that, the classified section and the revenue it brought for supporting journalism disappeared thanks to sites such as Indeed, LinkedIn and Craigslist. Music went through their own struggle at the dawn of the internet age but has seemed to figure out a new way forward. File-sharing with software such as Napster nearly brought the industry to its knees. Then the iPod rolled on the scene, and now we buy songs one track at a time on iTunes and Amazon Music or we subscribe to streaming services such as Spotify. Journalism hasn't had its iPod moment yet, and it needs similar innovation. How have we not been able to purchase one article at a time yet? I'd pay $1 or $5 to read something that interests me when I'd rather not subscribe. So yes, the industry is struggling. News deserts are increasingly common, and social media is a cesspool of rumor and misinformation. Add AI to that mix and people fear journalism is dead. Corporate journalism may die. The big news conglomerates that care more about shareholder profits and capitulating under political pressure are on life support, and maybe that's the shake-up this world needs. But journalism won't die; just look at all of the independent journalists doing amazing work on platforms such as Substack. More specifically, storytelling will thrive. Humans have been handing down history via storytelling for tens of thousands of years. Whether that's in the oral tradition, drawing on cave walls or writing pamphlets and books, storytelling is part of what makes us human. AI may be able to analyze and regurgitate what it's fed, but it will not show up when a wildfire destroys your community to listen to your story. It will not hold your hand following an assault and tell you that your truth matters. If an AI-powered robot does start showing up to natural disasters and humanitarian crises to collect data, it still won't replace the human who will hold space for you and your lived experience. How AI will influence our collective human condition is yet to be seen. How it infiltrates our data systems and journalism as an industry will no doubt be transformational. But before anyone can tell a story, they must first bear witness to it. That is why the first draft of history will always be human.