AI Wrote This

The stock market thrives on stability, Trump is anything but. His erratic trade policies, tariff wars, and inflammatory rhetoric have made markets a rollercoaster of uncertainty. His unpredictable outbursts send investors into frenzies. Volatility follows him like a shadow, and in an economy where confidence is currency, his return is fuelling the turbulence investors fear most.

Got you! Or sike, as the cool kids say. 

If you’ve been following my fortnightly op-eds, you may have expected yet another whine about the pitfalls of a second Trump presidency. But no, that was not me. The opening paragraph you’ve just read was written entirely by my ever-reliable (and slightly unnerving) friend, ChatGPT. Could you tell? Probably not. Did you roll your eyes? Likely, yes. And that, dear reader, brings us to today’s real discussion: AI’s ability to replace journalists.

Every time someone groans about how AI is ‘coming for our jobs’, I point to one profession as an exception: journalism. The usual rebuttal to this is that AI is already replacing journalists. But here’s the truth: AI will never replace real journalists.

True journalism isn’t just about compiling facts. It’s about investigation, analysis, and, most importantly, storytelling. Journalists don’t just report what happened; they ask why it happened, who is responsible, and what it means for those affected. They verify sources, challenge authority, and present information in ways that move, shock, or inspire audiences.

Think about the war correspondent dodging gunfire to report from the front lines. The dedicated investigative journalist spends years unearthing corruption. The local reporter sitting in a disaster zone, listening to survivors recount their losses. These stories don’t just require facts — they require understanding. They also require genuine empathy, which AI cannot partake in.

Of course, AI is already in the newsroom, and in some ways, it’s proving useful. Companies like Newsquest have introduced roles such as ‘AI-Assisted Journalists’, where AI generates routine reports using human inputted data. It can sift through mountains of press releases and quotes, transcribe interviews, and even detect misinformation (as quick as it creates it, that is) faster than any human. The journalist can throw in the mundane and be instantly gifted with a publishable story. This, as Newsquest's Head of Editorial AI, Jody Doherty-Cove, put it in 2023, allows the reporter to instead “do that human touch journalism that really resonates with the communities.”

But the key here is that it can assist, not replace. AI can support journalism, but it cannot be journalism. It can summarise a government report, but it can’t press a politician for a clearer answer. It can compile statistics on a humanitarian crisis, but it can’t capture the raw grief in a survivor’s voice.

Some of the most powerful journalism is driven by human connection. It’s the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigations that expose abuses of power, the personal narratives that force society to confront uncomfortable truths. AI can process language, but it cannot feel — it cannot grasp the weight of a mother’s sobs or the tension hanging in a courtroom as a verdict is read.

Another fundamental flaw is that obviously AI cannot step out from behind a screen. Journalism thrives on organic, real-world engagement. Reporters attend protests, knock on doors, track down reluctant sources, and immerse themselves in unfolding events. No matter how advanced AI becomes, it cannot stand in a crowd and sense the energy of a moment. It cannot read between the lines of an evasive answer. It cannot tell when someone is lying — not truly.

Sure, AI could, in theory, replace a television anchor. A perfectly polished digital face, emotionless and efficient, reading headlines with robotic precision. But would audiences accept it? Would we trust it? Even the most scripted news broadcasts with a real yet robotic presenter require real journalists behind the scenes — gathering, verifying, and structuring information. Without them, AI is left assembling disjointed pieces of unverified content, hardly a foundation for credible reporting.

For now, the journalist’s job remains safe. Until politicians, survivors of the world’s tragedies, and lottery winners feel comfortable sharing their stories with a robot, there’s nothing to worry about. Journalism is, at its core, a medium for human-to-human connection — something AI has no business being involved in.

Illustration by Elizabeth Yang