The rise of AI in journalism comes at a time when traditional media outlets are grappling with dwindling resources, financial instability, and a crisis of public trust. For grassroots journalism, which has historically operated outside these institutional frameworks, the integration of AI presents distinctive opportunities and challenges. As AI becomes more prevalent in content creation, information sourcing, and analysis, we must ask: How does AI influence the identity of grassroots journalism, and what impact does this have on its mission of amplifying marginalized voices?

In a seismic collision of technology and journalism, December 2023 witnessed The New York Times (NYT) thrusting the issue of artificial intelligence (AI) into legal and ethical crossfires. The NYT lodged a lawsuit against tech giants and AI-industry leaders Microsoft and OpenAI, pinpointing their ChatGPT language model for alleged copyright infringement. The charge is weighty: ChatGPT purportedly harnessed millions of NYT articles, even those shielded behind paywalls, to mold its language learning capabilities.

When it comes to Artificial Intelligence (AI), I am a layperson; I don’t have anything remotely resembling AI development experience. But if the interview posted by Google engineer Blake Lemoine is an accurate and truthful account of their conversation with LaMDA, I don’t know if I could make a determination on whether LaMDA is sentient or not.

And that’s absolutely horrifying to me.

As ordinary people in Eswatini/Swaziland take to the streets to protest in favor of human rights and democracy, digital activism is playing an important role. Weave News contributor Phiwa T. argues that instead of dismissing such efforts, we should recognize that forms of digital protest can work hand in hand with traditional forms of street-level activism.

By Emily Gerber

In this news analysis post, Weave News contributor Emily Gerber explores how coverage of hydroflurocarbons, or HFCs, illustrates the prevalence of what scholar Robert Jensen calls "technological fundamentalism" in American journalism.