How media industry and content creation could survive in the shadow of AI? How do Dutch media companies manage transparency and other ethical issues related to the usage of AI? Rick Thomson, Technology Coordinator Video, Audio & Online of ADR NieuwsMedia answered IdeaBank’s questions in Rotterdam.
Rick Thomson
AI will have an influence on the way media works, both as a journalist or content creator and in the PR industry. With AI, making generic content will become easier, which is both good and bad. It will give talented people more time to create new original content and stand out even better than before. On the other hand, it will also result in average talented people to use more AI and make their content more generic and with that more mediocre. The gap between mediocrity and excellence will become bigger. I think the most important thing for PR agencies is to not replace people with AI. If agencies would start using mostly AI for their press releases, they will all become similar, which would result in them ending up on the pile of ignored press releases at a news room.
As with all new technology, there are mixed feelings, especially industry wide. Some people see the possibilities and opportunities to help them out, others are afraid it might cost them their job. And the biggest irony of all is that specifically that tech-wary group of people are the ones who’s job could be in jeopardy. If there will be jobs that will disappear, it will be the people who have not adapted to the new technology.
We focus on showcasing AI as another tool in the toolbox. We are training them to use it, but also explaining we have no intention of replacing people with AI. And by involving as many people as possible at the beginning of the process, in the brainstorm phase, you create a broader support base in all layers of the company.
We have integrated all sorts of different AI models and LLM in our in-house AI environment. Within that environment we have created over a hundred different mini-apps / instances that can be used. This ranges from systems that help create titles / headlines for news articles, but also a news editor that provides suggestions on improvements in the article. But also, for example, a system that checks our own news archive and can help think of new, different ideas for articles about a popular subject.
I am not aware of any laws about it in the Netherlands (we have an entire legal team within DPG that deals with these kinds of things). As part of our ethical guidelines we do want to provide full transparency about the usage of AI. If it is used as a tool, and not for the creation of the final product, we do not enclose the usage of AI, though. The reasoning behind that, is that in those cases it is just a tool, and it is no different than using Google, speaking to a source etc. The journalist that made the article is responsible for what he writes and we entrust him to verify his sources, including AI to search for sources.
We have a document with ethical guidelines for AI that is constantly being updated and modernized based upon new developments in the AI industry. We also have a team checking on both the ethical and legal aspects for every AI tool we use, and based on that we know which tools are and are not allowed within our company.
ADR Nieuwsmedia is a combination of news outlets in the Netherlands. It consists of 8 newspapers, including AD (or Algemeen Dagblad), the biggest subscription-based news outlet in the Netherlands and Brabants Dagblad, that has existed for over 250 years. ADR Nieuwsmedia is part of DPG Media, an international media group with over 80 different brands.
Technology Coordinator Video, Audio & Online ADR NieuwsMedia
2010 – 2014: Sports journalist – traveling through Europe mainly for (field) hockey and football
2014 – 2017: Online news editor and chairman of the editorial board at Hart van Nederland, a Dutch tv news program
2017 – 2021: Head of Digital at Rijnmond, a regional public broadcaster
2021 – 2024: Technology Coordinator Audio, Video & Digital for ADR Nieuwsmedia at DPG Media, and chairman of the editorial board for Algemeen Dagblad
