The boss of the ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 newsmaker has urged lawmakers to consider journalism within the AI regulation debate as the next UK general election draws near.ITN CEO Rachel Corp, who recently took over from now-BBC News boss Deborah Turness, called on the UK government to take a “proactive stance.” She said “little mention of journalism” has so far been made in the debate as governments consider how best to regulate the growing yet unknown sector.“While much of the current AI conversation focusses on scenarios we are yet to encounter, there is a more pressing threat that can be addressed now through guardrails to ensure that journalism continues to thrive and play a vital role in society during this time of rapid change,” said Corp, who was speaking at the News Xchange conference in Dublin.Corp revealed that ITN has written to ministers at the UK’s Department of Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to safeguard quality journalism as AI technology – specifically generative AI – develops rapidly.She outlined the need for a working group to address concerns and said this has become particularly prevalent as the next general election draws near, with “the impact of generative AI on misinformation” likely to be an issue, “which could have a direct impact on social cohesion.” The UK’s next general election will take place in January 2025 at the latest but could be as soon as next spring.Corp acknowledged that there will be benefits from AI, such as “journalists being freed-up from administrative tasks,” but warned that “AI will never be able to replicate the work of journalists who gather information and contextualise it by building relationships and being eye-witnesses to events as they occur”.The AI debate has been prominent in U.S TV and film due to the ongoing writers strike and potential directors and actors strikes – with writers, directors and actors unions making the AI issue a key part of their demands – but journalism has so far been quiet.In the UK, actors union Equity recently forged an AI toolkit that, amongst other things, attempts to prevent performers from having their performances cloned.
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