This Local “News” Website Made

Only by AI Is Stunningly Depressing

 

 

 

17/8/2024,
“The articles should only be about events and fun and good times.”

There’s a new local news website in Northwestern Arkansas, and it’s AI-generated, even down to the “AI reporters” part.

OkayNWA is a digital news website that has been active since it originally appeared as an app last year, according to Nieman Lab. Furthermore, OkayNWA isn’t afraid to employ artificial intelligence liberally, in contrast to many other AI-generated local news websites, the majority of which are categorised as “pink-slime” journalism automated local news output that is politically biased and frequently propagandised.

“At OkayNWA, we’ve embraced the cutting-edge potential of artificial intelligence to redefine how news is sourced, reported, and presented to you,” the website’s About page states.

As part of their self-described effort to redefine news reporting, OkayNWA scrapes the internet for local events and publishes them under the bylines of its “AI reporters,” each of whom has its beat. For instance, “Sammy Streets” is the website’s “chief of street-level reporting,” and “Benjamin Business” is its “business reporting lead.” The website mostly posts very low-stakes content, such as notices of impending neighbourhood events and the openings and closings of nearby businesses.

Furthermore, the owner of the website claims that it purposefully stays away from talking about subjects that are contentious or more challenging in general.

“Only fun and events should be the subject of the articles.”

According to Nieman Lab, Jay Price, the website’s software engineer, the stories “should only be about events and fun and good times.” “I don’t want crime or politics, or even city council stuff.”

Even though the website claims to redefine reporting and news, it is unclear if anything on it is news. Nevertheless, it is useful to have a source of knowledge about regional events and other matters. What effect might a website like this have on local journalism, which is becoming a less and less specialised field?

Price was motivated to launch the website because, following his relocation to Bentonville, Arkansas, he had no relationships.

“I was trying to figure out what to do here and there was information spread all over the place,” the developer of the application told Nieman Lab, “whether it be Facebook, Instagram, various event aggregator sites and email lists.”

However, Price acknowledged that releasing summaries of positive incidents has its own set of difficulties.

“I was seeing the bots pick up news as events, and I wasn’t sure what to do with it, honestly,” Price stated to Nieman Lab. Like, this Friday is the opening of a new bar. Yes, it’s an event, but it’s also somewhat of a news story.

However, the AI handles the write-up rather than interviewing the owner and customers of the pub on the spot, raising concerns about what is overlooked throughout that procedure.

Local newspapers are crucial, to start with. Without them, communities grow more divisive, fewer people vote, and local administrations are frequently not held accountable.

Fortunately, OkayNWA isn’t the only newspaper in Bentonville, as Nieman Lab points out, local newsrooms around the nation are becoming less and smaller, so it won’t be shocking to see automated operations that mimic OkayNWA spring up to cover those gaps. Thus, while local news does report on events such as pub openings and live music, it also covers serious stories about subjects like politics, crime and, yes, ‘city council stuff’.

Price’s deliberate efforts to refrain from using his AI to generate truly newsworthy information appear to be a clear indication of the limitations of generative AI in terms of fully automated journalism. The work of reporting is intricate, and generative AI frequently makes mistakes.

Therefore, while having a website where people can learn about local events is fantastic, it is problematic at best and existentially dismal at worst to refer to this as a “news” site.