News Corp CEO Robert Thomson recently raised alarms about the growing influence of AI-generated content in the media landscape, criticizing its left-wing bias and potential for spreading inaccuracies. Thomson argues that the end result could be an “ever-shrinking circle of sanity surrounded by a reservoir of rubbish.”
The New York Post reports that in a candid discussion at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference, Robert Thomson, the CEO of News Corp, expressed grave concerns about the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in modern journalism. Thomson, who oversees a media empire that includes The Wall Street Journal and The Post, did not mince words when he described the current state of AI-generated content as “rubbish in, rubbish out.”
Rupert Murdoch attends the 2019 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 24, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
“AI is essentially retrospective. It’s about permutations of pre-existing content,” Thomson stated. He warned that the technology threatens to eliminate thousands of jobs across the news industry, exacerbating an already dire situation. “When you look at the dramatic decline in newsroom employment in the US from 2008 to 2020—it’s down around 57% or more, depending on how you calculate it,” he noted.
Thomson also took aim at the left-leaning media giants, accusing them of churning out stories riddled with errors and written with a left-wing slant.
The CEO went on to elaborate on the dangers of AI-generated content. “The danger is, it’s rubbish in, rubbish out, rubbish all about,” he said. “Because it’s distributing—exponentially—potentially damaging content.” He warned that instead of elevating discourse, AI could lead to an “ever-shrinking circle of sanity surrounded by a reservoir of rubbish.”
“And so instead of elevating and enhancing, what you might find is that you have this ever-shrinking circle of sanity surrounded by a reservoir of rubbish,” he continued. “So instead of the insight that AI can potentially bring, what it will evolve into, essentially, is maggot-ridden mind mold.”
Thomson also called for companies that are “training” generative artificial intelligence engines using “archived material” to pay the publishers who employ the trusted sources creating the content. “If you derive benefit from our content, we should derive a benefit or else you’re in danger of undermining the creation of that content,” he emphasized.
Read more at New York Post here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan