Maven: Prof. Nick Diakopoulos
Event Title: News Media in the Age of AI
Event Date: May 17th | 3 – 4 PM (BST)
From hidden connections in big data to bots spreading fake news, journalism is both enhanced and challenged by algorithms, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI). In this talk I’ll elaborate two central themes: (1) how news values are embedded and designed into automation technologies for journalism, and (2) how journalistic practices are evolving as algorithms are blended into hybrid editorial workflows. I’ll describe these themes with respect to recent and ongoing research at the forefront of computational news discovery and automated text production before stepping back to discuss a set of provocations for future research, education, and the design of algorithms, automation, and AI technology to support robust and sustainable journalism.
Bio: Nicholas Diakopoulos is an Associate Professor in Communication Studies and Computer Science (by courtesy) at Northwestern University where he directs the Computational Journalism Lab and is Director of Graduate Studies for the Technology and Social Behavior PhD program. His research focuses on computational journalism, including aspects of automation and algorithms in news production, algorithmic accountability and transparency, and social media in news contexts. Recently he authored the award-winning book, Automating the News: How Algorithms are Rewriting the Media, published by Harvard University Press. He received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science from the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and his Sc.B. degree in Computer Engineering from Brown University.
