Artificial intelligence can replace journalists

German digital periodicals publisher Axel Springer plans to lay off some journalists and replace them with ChatGPT artificial intelligence. The company’s CEO Matthias Döpfner announced this in a corporate letter. The upcoming layoffs will definitely affect two German publications — Die Welt and Bild.

«Artificial intelligence can make independent journalism better than ever before, or simply replace it,» Axel Springer employees quote Döpfner's letter. The publisher’s CEO is confident that AI tools will «revolutionize the media and will soon provide information better than professional journalists.» According to Döpfner, only those able to provide the audience with unique content will survive in such conditions.

The CEO did not specify how many employees would be laid off, but promised that the layoffs would not affect reporters, authors or specialized editors. According to Axel Springer CEO, they should focus on investigative journalism and original texts.

This is not the first publisher to use artificial intelligence to create content. In January of this year, BuzzFeed announced that it plans to use AI to improve its content and online polls. The publisher of the British newspapers Daily Mirror and Daily Express is also considering the use of AI in the press and has even created a special working group to study this issue.

The developers of Shortwave, an email client that simplifies user interaction with their own Gmail inbox, have launched a GPT-3-based tool. The new feature summarizes and shortens users' emails, helping to save time.