At the American Corner in Suva, comms pros analyze AI policy.

Journalists, comms pros, students tackle tough AI issues
(Suva, Fiji)-Here in Fiji as in the US, it seems like every conversation these days leads down one road straight to AI. Does AI represent a challenge or an opportunity here in Fiji and throughout the Pacific Islands region? And how does AI impact digital freedom in the region?

I addressed those key questions with journalists and public information communicators in a morning session titled, “Protecting Digital Media Freedom in the age of AI,” and in the afternoon with university students in a workshop called, “AI and the Future of Journalism in the Pacific.” 

The morning session began with analyzing contested definitions of digital media freedom—is it the ability to say anything, unfettered, online; or does freedom come from a regulated environment that is free from harassment and hate speech. This then led to a discussion of differing opinions about censorship. The communicators generally favored some regulation aimed at controlling hate speech. While I recognized the need to do so, I also cautioned about the slippery slope of government regulation of speech, and that what might be legitimately labeled as hate speech today might be broadened to include political speech tomorrow. 

Discussing pros/cons of AI regulation.

We discussed the pros and cons of the Trump administration’s essentially hand-off policy when it comes to regulating AI, and contrasted it with the common practice in this region of regulating AI and online speech in a way that protects national and indigenous digital sovereignty. I said, several times, that there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to managing and regulating digital spaces.

In the second session, we discussed the threats to journalism from AI, including mis and disinformation; erosion and marginalization of local context; AI regulation as a pretext for censorship; and digital colonialism and loss of digital sovereignty. On the plus side, we analyzed how AI can be beneficial for journalists by helping to mitigate linguistic challenges; as a tool to mine and collate complex caches of information; workflow optimization; and strengthening indigenous knowledge and practice.

Finally, I shared with the students survey results that showed how Pacific Islands journalists use AI. This includes research, cataloging date; transcribing interviews; and writing first drafts and social media reports. Alarmingly, 5% of respondents admitted that they use AI to write final drafts of stories. A lively discussion followed about what are and aren’t appropriate uses of AI in a newsroom. The consensus was that AI needs to be used, but within certain limits. My colleague, AI researcher and reporter Roni Satria from CNN Indonesia, said it best when he wrote, “It is the journalist’s responsibility to decide what can be safely delegated to AI; what requires human-AI collaboration; and what must remain entirely under human editorial judgment. AI may assist and accelerate, but journalists must verify and contextualize, while editors retain accountability.”

Today's sessions were held at the American Corner, and sponsored by the US Embassy-Suva.

From Suva, I move on the Savusavu, Fiji later in the week to attend the Pacific Islands News Association media summit, a gathering of regional media. Stay tuned for that report.

Elderly trainer/professor leads AI discussion in Fiji.