AI’s Role in News Media: A Double-Edged Sword

The resilience of traditional news outlets continues to defy predictions of obsolescence, even as AI emerges as the latest disruptor. While AI systems depend on professional journalism for training data, the industry faces existential threats from cost-cutting and unverified "citizen journalism" championed by tech figures like Elon Musk. Quality reporting remains a capital-intensive craft—one that algorithms cannot yet replicate.

AI's promised "agent" phase, touted by OpenAI's Sam Altman as a $2,000/month solution for autonomous task execution, has failed to materialize. Flawed performance in practical applications—such as ticket purchasing systems—exposes the limitations of current large language models. These shortcomings underscore why even their creators hesitate to deploy them for revenue-critical operations.