AI’s growth raises questions about the future of the media — Samantha Barry

Newsrooms not receiving a cut of the money made by big tech firms from publications' journalism, editor of Glamour magazine tells Kerry conference

Anne O'Leary, vice-president at Meta and Samantha Barry, editor in chief at Glamour magazine, at the Global Economic Summit in Killarney, Co Kerry, to discuss the global economy, the pathway to sustainability, and developments in AI and healthcare technology. Picture: Domnick Walsh

The rise of AI technology has led to an uncertain future for the journalism industry, with the impact of its growing prevalence still largely unknown, editor-in-chief of Glamour magazine Samantha Barry has warned.

Speaking as part of a panel discussion at the Global Economic Summit in Killarney on Tuesday, the Cork native and former CNN executive said while she had worked closely with social media companies in the past, AI’s growing popularity raised several questions about the future of the media industry and how it would be used.

“We need to take a second and think about what it means for the bedrock of democracy that is journalism,” Ms Barry told attendees.

The veteran reporter said although she had always used social media as part of her work, tech giants had made it increasingly difficult for news publications to survive on their platforms.

“Facebook used to prioritise news and it felt like the right place to be, but now, it has gone back on that and business models are suffering,” Ms Barry said.

The Glamour editor was joined by Meta vice-president of global business EMEA Anne O’Leary, who told attendees big changes were coming in the world of AI.

In 2021, Facebook rebranded to Meta with the new name reflecting the company’s shift to developing metaverse technology, the foundation of which is AI, Ms O’Leary explained.

“Everything we are building with AI will be used for better immersive experiences in what we call the metaverse.” 

The VP and Cork native said while this technology “will not try to replicate human interaction,” it would make the immersive experience as good as it can be “rather than just a flat screen,” adding Meta’s recently developed virtual reality device, Oculus, allowed users access to education and healthcare as well as the ability to travel the world.

However, in the panel discussion hosted by Charlie Taylor of the Business Post, Ms Barry warned AI should not come at the expense of the media, telling attendees: “When we talk about AI, I would be very conscious about how journalism is funding or feeding these large language models with it.

“I would have a lot of issues with that,” the Glamor editor noted, citing recent legal challenges brought by the New York Times against the owners of ChatGPT, OpenAI and Microsoft.

In December, the newspaper sued the tech giants for copyright infringement, alleging the firms’ AI technology illegally copied millions of articles to train language models including ChatGPT to provide people with instant access to information — technology that now competes with traditional newspapers including the Times.

“Journalism costs money to make,” said Ms Barry, adding newsrooms were not receiving a cut of the money made by big tech firms from these systems.

I still have a lot of questions. If you care about journalism, ask, how will it be funded, or not funded by these systems? 

The panel discussion was one of many at the summit discussing the role and future of AI. 

On Monday, Finance Minister Michael McGrath warned of the need to avoid the "adverse outcomes" of AI technology, noting its rising adoption would bring a "seismic change" to the economy. Mr McGrath added that up to one-third of jobs in Ireland could be at risk in the future from AI.

"Whilst AI is still a nascent technology, the potential is there to boost the productive capacity of the economy at a time when structural forces will begin to weigh on economic growth," said Mr McGrath.

"The key objective must be to harness the benefits of these new technologies while avoiding some of the adverse outcomes."