A panel discussion on artificial intelligence and journalism was presented to aspiring student journalists on day one of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Region 11 conference at UH, asserting that AI is more of a future concern than a current threat.

The panel included Sukhwa Hong, Assistant Professor in the College of Business and Economics at UH Hilo, Dane Dupont, Co-founder of the nonprofit organization Hawaiian Volcano Education and Resilience Institute, and Madhi Belcaid, faculty member of the Department of Information and Computer Sciences at UH Mānoa.

The pros and cons of artificial intelligence and the role AI plays in journalism were discussed.

“A lot of people think Chat GPT is as smart as people, but that’s not true,” said Hong, when asked where AI stands right now.

The panel reached a consensus that AI is not yet at a level of advancement that should concern journalists. Hong compared current AI to a person who has learned a language and has the potential to learn more but only knows the basics of the language.

AI at its current level is not capable of writing about advanced and complex topics, Dupont said. It is more suited to write about topics such as homemaking rather than politics and groundbreaking scientific discoveries.

“(AI) is doing all the fun stuff for us,” said Dupont.

Dupont concluded the session saying that the future of AI and journalism is unknown, except that “it’s going to be wild and crazy.”