1.Write on your own where/how you think AI is currently being used, or might be used in the near future in your field, whether academically while studying or in the workplace (1 point)

My field is Multimedia Communication and Journalism, and i already think AI is being used in obvious ways and not very obvious ways too. As a student, I see that AI tools are for example in transcribing interviews and generating subtitles and basic video and image editing.  AI also affects what we see and consume everyday on social media platforms, it keeps track of our behavior online to recommend posts, videos, and trends that appear on our feed that matches our online behavior and supposedly our interests, this is basically called algorithm.

In the workplace i feel like Ai is used more and more for analyzing audiences, also in moderating content, translating media, and finishing work tasks faster. In the near future, i think AI will play a huge role in newsrooms especially when automating certain tasks or detecting misinformation and personalizing content for targeted audiences. even though AI can make work faster and easier, I believe it also raises concerns in this field and other fields honestly such as bias and relying too much on technology.

2. Use one of the AI tools to see what it will suggest are ways AI will be used in your field. Cite the AI with the link and your prompt (1 point)
AI tool used: ChatGPT

Prompt:
How is AI currently being used in the media industry, and how might it be used in the near future?

https://chatgpt.com/share/6945b389-6e28-800a-9c0f-d549a5ed7efa

AI response in short:
AI is currently used in the media industry for automated transcription, content recommendation systems, audience analytics, translation, video and image editing, and trend detection. In the near future, AI may be used more extensively for automated journalism, real-time content moderation, deepfake detection, personalized news delivery, and predictive analytics. Despite these advancements, concerns remain regarding algorithmic bias, misinformation, ethical responsibility, and the need for human oversight.

i think this whole response shows that AI agrees on having so many benefits in this field but agrees also that it comes with risks. i think i did not have that much of bias and present the AI usage as perfect and it also mentioned the necessity of the human responsibility and accountability

3.Interview a professor at AUC about this – you can ask them about both academic and professional uses. You can take permission to record the interview in audio and put the recording on your blog, with a summary of your key findings. Or you can take notes. Maybe take a photo with the professor as well 🙂  (2 points)   

These are my questions along with the professor’s answers:

1- How do you see AI being used in the media field right now?
Right now, AI is embedded in almost every layer of the media ecosystem.
Newsrooms use it for automated transcription, content recommendation, trend detection, audience analytics, and translation.
Creators use AI for editing, subtitles, visual production, and workflow optimization.

2- Are there real benefits you’ve personally seen from AI in media work, or are some things still exaggerated?
There are very real benefits. AI dramatically reduces the time spent on repetitive, low-value tasks: transcribing interviews, sorting data, generating initial drafts, or searching archives.

3- In your experience, does AI improve things like fact-checking and accuracy, or does it bring new risks we should worry about?
AI can support accuracy, but cannot guarantee it. Tools for reverse-image search, anomaly detection, and source comparison improved fact-checking workflows.

4- How do AI algorithms affect what people see online? Do you think this increases bias or affects how groups like women or minorities are represented?
Yes, algorithms can increase bias because they learn from societies that are already biased.

5- When it comes to misinformation, does AI help us fight it, or does it sometimes make the problem worse?
Both. AI is extremely helpful for detecting coordinated fake accounts and identifying deep fakes. But AI also amplifies misinformation when algorithms prioritize sensational content.

6- Do you think AI helps students and media professionals be creative, or does it risk replacing original work?
AI can expand creativity, but only if used intentionally. Students who use AI to brainstorm reach more ambitious creative outcomes. AI becomes an assistant.
The risk is when AI is used as a substitute for doing the work.

7- What do you think people misunderstand or overhype the most about AI in the media industry?
AI will replace journalists. We will always need someone to actually do the work with the help of AI.

8- What skills do you think students need to develop so they can work with AI responsibly in the future?
Critical AI literacy. They should understand what AI can and cannot do, and how algorithms make decisions.

So for the professor i decided to interview is Doctor Mohamed Gameel he was kind enough to fit me into his schedule and answered through email. Dr. Mohamed explained that AI is already part of almost every are of the media field. for example in the newsrooms, AI is used for transcription, for translation, finding trends and analyzing audiences and recommending content. He also believes that media creators also use AI for editing, adding subtitles, producing visuals, helping in organizing their work.

He explained that one of the biggest benefits of AI in this field is just saving time on repetitive tasks. and he thinks that this allows media professionals to focus more on thinking, analysis, and make creative decisions. however, he clearly said that AI never guarantee accuracy. as AI tools can help with the fact-checking, such as comparing sources or detecting unusual patterns, but humans still need to make the final decisions.

He also talked about bias and explained that AI systems often reflect existing social biases. This can affect how women and minority groups can be represented in media. he also mentioned misinformation, he described AI as a double edged tool as it can help detect the fake accounts and deep fakes but it can also create them and spread misinformation when platforms promote sensational content.

4. Interview a person in the profession that you know – an older sibling, family friend, etc. If you cannot think of someone you know, you could interview an additional professor who works a lot in the field (some part-time professors are like that) or interview someone from the career center. Again, you can audio-record or take notes, and provide a summary. (2 points).   

• How is AI currently used in your media work?

• Can you give an example where AI helped make work faster or more efficient?

• How does AI affect creativity in your job?

• How do you think AI will shape the future of media work?

For this i interviewed my Uncle he works at Al ahram for more than 15 years and he explained that AI is used in media work to analyze the audience engagement to track how people interact with news and content, and improve the performance of the news articles and posts. he basically said that tasks that take a long time like sorting through the audience data or checking engagement trends which can be done much faster than before with AI tools

He also mentioned that AI can help with the creative tasks like planning for articles and organizing stories, or suggesting ideas for visuals and headlines. However, he mentioned that relying too much on AI tools can make the work feel repetitive and unoriginal which makes the news outlet lose credibility. According to him, AI works best as a tool to support human creativity but if we rely on it too much it will limit this creativity so it basically should not replace the human creativity because this is what people want to see no one want to read AI generated headlines for example. he ended by telling me that professionals who know hot to guide and use AI effectively without replacing their input as a human will have a big advantage otherwise, they will risk losing their creative judgement and their originality.

5. Provide your reflection: were you surprised? What about your findings excite or scare you? Are you feeling anything else? What do you think you need to be doing right now about what you’ve just learned? (4 points). There are  2 points on how critical your interview questions and reflection are. In order to question any hype or exaggeration or unsubstantiated claims in your interview, see the tips below on how to be critical. (2 points)

I was not very surprised to learn that AI is used widely in media to save time and improve the efficiency so that professionals focus on more creative tasks in fact in any course i have taken in this major we always discussed AI whether it was in online communication, media ethics or media literacy in digital age. these all are courses where we deeply talked about AI usage in this field so most of the responses were not very new to me. However, I loved how both Dr Mohamed and my uncle agreed and emphasized on the necessity of human judgement and creativity. also the fact that doctor Mohamed pointed out that AI can never guarantee accuracy made me realize that even though AI can help with fact-checking and organizing work, it cannot replace the human role which proved to me and i think will prove to anyone who uses AI and trusts it know that AI should not be relied on as much as we as a generation rely on it.

However, what excites me about AI is how it can support research and make work faster and analyze audiences which makes sense to me, for example my uncle mentioned how AI helps track audience engagement and suggests ideas for articles or visuals, and i think if AI is used here moderately and responsibly it could actually improve productivity. so to me i think it’s about how we use it.

At the same time, I feel concerned because both interviews highlighted the risk. that AI can reflect bias and spread misinformation or reduce the originality of people if they rely on it too much. I think the most think that concerns me is originality because you can see now that very well-known companies start implementing AI and use it to generate Ads and i see it as extremely boring i don’t think that using AI in media is engaging or attractive to look it, even if they prompt AI to generate the idea in mind but still the output result is still AI generated so to me it is really limiting the human aspect that appeal to other humans “targeted audience” . I think the human touch is important because it connects better with people, and relying too much on AI can take that away.

Overall, i believe Ai is a very powerful tool, but it needs to be used carefully and responsibly. i think learning critical AI literacy is really important, through learning how AI works and questions its results and making sure to maintain the creativity and the human judgement is crucial because at the end of the day AI should only support and help human work not replace it.