Until late last year, I鈥檇 avoided thinking much about artificial intelligence.
Partly, I鈥檇 become fatigued with the topic after the initial rush of media coverage that happened when ChatGPT first became popular. And, partly, I鈥檇 been sticking my head in the sand, overwhelmed by all the potential ways AI could change my career, my personal life 鈥� and the world.
So I was a bit daunted when my colleagues at 精东影业 voted to make AI the subject of a week鈥檚 worth of focused content 鈥� which we鈥檙e calling "精东影业 Explores: Artificial Intelligence," beginning this Monday, Feb. 9. Still, as the editor supervising the project, I needed to make an active choice to fully commit, along with the rest of the newsroom. And I鈥檓 so glad I did, because the resulting stories have helped me overcome both my fatigue and sense of being overwhelmed.
I鈥檝e learned how everyone from wedding planners to police to fellow journalists are using AI now and how they鈥檙e thinking about its future. That knowledge has made me feel less abstractly threatened and more curious about where boundaries lie 鈥� between creating and enhancing, helping and doing.
Now you, our audience, will have the same opportunity. Multiple stories will air every day next week, Monday through Friday, on WKSU鈥檚 鈥淢orning Edition鈥� and 鈥淎ll Things Considered鈥� and "Today from the Ohio Newsroom," with segments also airing on 鈥淪ound of Ideas鈥� and 鈥淎pplause.鈥� Stories and videos will also publish to our website and social media channels.
Then, after the dust settles, we want you to help us synthesize all we learned. On Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 6 p.m. in the Westfield Insurance Studio at the Idea Center, our reporters and a group AI experts in various fields will be on hand to review our stories, identify takeaways and think together about what we want the future to hold. You can register for that free "Sound of Ideas Community Tour" . (An event the next day, Wednesday, Feb. 18 at noon at the Akron Press Club, will provide a more targeted look at .)
We鈥檝e done these targeted topic weeks before, including our award-winning 2017 series "Divided by Design," looking at the region鈥檚 longstanding racial segregation. But this is the first time we鈥檝e tackled a subject since our newsroom enlarged with the merger of WKSU and 精东影业 鈥� and the first time we鈥檝e sought to engage you, our audience, in helping us to make sense of it all.
And this is just the beginning. Our plans are to identify and explore subjects that affect Northeast Ohioans several times a year 鈥� with the next "精东影业 Explores" subject slated to be the mental health crisis plaguing youth. If you have an idea for a future topic, please call or text us at 216-916-6090.
Together, let鈥檚 face tough subjects head on and embrace one of public media鈥檚 greatest strengths 鈥� our ability to step back from the daily noise to think and explore.
