Like most other students my age, I’ve seen artificial intelligence enter the classroom and become as much of a presence as a peer sitting next to me.
It’s almost impossible to find someone who doesn’t use AI in some way or another. Whether it’s for brainstorming ideas or completing an entire assigned essay, AI is truly everywhere. Because of the rapid way this technology has cemented itself into our lives, I am worried for the future of any career I choose, but specifically for the future of journalism—a career pathway I have been passionate about during my entire high school career.
I’m going to college this year, and I’ll admit there’s a nagging voice in my head wondering if a college degree will even be necessary four years from now. I worry that I might graduate and realize that there is no place for me in the workforce. However, after getting past these worries, I also realize that any career that highlights the importance of humanity and human connection is uniquely situated to withstand the presence of AI.
Even if artificial intelligence continues to exponentially grow the way it has over the past few years, I know the field of journalism can never be truly erased. It is impossible to replicate the connection between a journalist and their source; a robot cannot pull the true story out of someone the same way a human can. As a writer who primarily focuses on profiles, I’ve grown to love learning about someone’s life and the messy, tiny details that have added up to make them the writer, chef or volunteer they are today. Those details have to be pulled from someone through a genuine, empathetic conversation; they are not just data points freely given to a machine. One truly can’t replace the human connection found in these stories.
What I do think will continue to change in the future is the medium. Over the past few years, we’ve seen a massive shift from traditional print journalism to digital articles and short form content. Although I’ve grown up with the New York Times being delivered to our door every morning of my childhood, I can’t ignore that print is going out of style. In the next few years, I think that journalism will be primarily focused on online platforms. While longer articles will still exist, the news agenda will be increasingly catered to Instagram and Tiktok to meet the Gen Z population where they are. With this population growing up and becoming increasingly interested in the world around them, the news must meet their limited attention spans. Instead of looking up an article to get the news, each day’s breaking news will likely come in the form of 60- to 90-second videos recapping what has happened.
While I believe these shifts in format are inevitable in an increasingly digital world, my hope is that the soul of the work stays intact. I love to write, and to think that the craft could be rendered obsolete by AI and shrinking attention spans makes me incredibly sad. Work will have to be done to ensure that journalism remains more than just a summary of facts generated by a processor.
Ultimately, journalism is the art of human communication. While AI can compile information, it cannot witness a genuine moment or capture the “why” behind a human’s eyes. As I head into these next four years, I’m choosing to believe that while the tools may change and the content may get shorter, the world will always need the one thing that a machine can’t provide: a human perspective.
Local high school senior Simone Dayton has been an intern at the ‘Pacific Sun’ this past year.
