Filipino journalist upends industry’s AI doomsday fears with custom chatbot to aid in-depth reporting

Harvard University Nieman Fellow Jaemark Tordecilla created an AI tool to help investigative reporters uncover wrongdoing in government audit reports

He thinks AI could be a godsend for newsrooms in the Global South – even as worries mount about chatbots threatening jobs and churning out fake news

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Published: 8:00am, 25 Mar 2024Updated: 2:12pm, 25 Mar 2024

As Big Tech extols the rise of generative artificial intelligence – sending the value of chip makers’ stocks soaring – many in the media world are worried the technology will be used to amplify disinformation and replace human journalists.

These concerns are particularly acute in the Philippines, where disinformation is already a major issue and newsrooms are struggling with limited resources. But one Filipino journalist believes AI could be a boon to news outlets in the developing world, giving them the tools to tackle resource-intensive reporting.

Jaemark Tordecilla, a former editor-in-chief of GMA News Online and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, recently created an AI program, built atop OpenAI’s ChatGPT, configured specifically to summarise the audit reports of Philippine government agencies for journalists.

If the hype is true, that this technology could change the world, then it should change journalism as well

Jaemark Tordecilla, Filipino journalist

While reports from the Philippines’ Commission on Audit (COA) are likely to contain evidence of corruption, government agency documents can be dense and difficult to read and understand, Tordecilla told This Week in Asia.

Journalists in newsrooms across the globe, not just the Philippines, are often stretched thin, forced to multitask and cover numerous topics at the same time. Tordecilla wanted to find a solution that could help reporters maximise their efficiency and cut down the time spent poring through documents.

Jaemark Tordecilla discusses AI with journalists and content creators from the Philippines’ Visayas and Mindanao regions at a Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalists (PCIJ) seminar. Photo: Jaemark Tordecilla

“AI is a hot topic, yet there is little documentation about how to use AI and apply it to journalism,” he said. “So, I wanted to figure out use cases for it – if the hype is true, that this technology could change the world, then it should change journalism as well.”