"AI is strictly a tool" BBC Sports Katie Stafford has her say

Katie Stafford, one of the BBC Sports newest talents spoke to Leo Knight about all things AI as it continues its rise through the journalism industry.

By Leo Knight

AI has burst onto the scene in the last year and none more so then the in field of journalism. It is common for companies across the UK to provide AI training and the dangers they entail but are there opportunities in the future? to explore this I spoke to BBC sports daily football content writer Katie Stafford, we covered the main issue of using AI as it is not deemed transparent by most news companies across the UK but Katie did acknowledge its uses and how it will effect and grow the industry in the future.

There is little to suggest that AI will fully replace human based tasks but it is important to appreciate that most sports journalists experiences with AI are relatively low as publications like the BBC and Reach provide training and openly tell employees to avoid using AI in most senses when completing journalistic work, also most journalists have only heard and seen AI tools come into use in the past year or so which shows the unpredictability about AI's potential in the industry.

Katie said "My only interactive experience with Ai is a current module I am completing for my masters at university" which is strange considering AI is becoming such a big thing in work and even more so in life for many people and companies.

The main issue and limitation when using AI is transparency and authenticity, Katie stated "The BBC is for the people and is a public service so using it would be deemed as not honest so we are told not to use it at all" this suggests that other sports reporting news companies are under the same impression and thought. This is a topic that is widely discussed by many in that if you put that idea into generative AI for example; is it still your idea or original to you; maybe not, but it can also be used to help further develop the idea and make it better for your audience.

Transparency is an important aspect to audiences, it allows for accountability to be taken and avoids confusion if a source is credible and well fact checked alongside keeping public trust which any credible news company wants to maintain above all. It also calls into question the ethical side of using AI to help report sport stories, Katie said "I don't think it would be as rewarding using AI and publishing a good piece of work instead of doing the work by yourself."

Katie also went onto mention that "AI is definitely here and whether people like it or not it will have a huge impact on the future of journalism, someone just needs to make that first jump" There has been trials of AI based algorithms that will auto-generate live text of matches but that potentially takes away from the value of the human tone which includes key context and specific nuances of games that AI cannot portray to the audience. Katie said "I can see some other bodies with more money then the BBC looking to develop AI more like Sky or TalkSport" These news companies have the resources and money to develop AI more which could leave other publications scrambling to catch up in future which is something everyone should keep an eye out for.

"AI is strictly a tool, we only use it really to have a laugh most of the time" Katie said but we will all definitely see what it has to offer in the future.