Lukman Abdulmalik
The Centre for Journalism Innovation Development (CJID) at its 2024 journalism digital technology and AI Dialogue conference introduced new Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to verify facts and accurate data for story writing as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of the media business and improve journalism in Africa.
The development of the tools was supported by Luminate and Google News Initiative and the media partners are Premium Times, Channels, News Central, and Trust Tv.
In his welcome address, the Chief Executive Officer of CJID, Dapo Olorunyomi, noted that in the past ten years, his organization has become a leader in designing knowledge products and services that offered a modest response to the weathering push from the digital onslaught.
“The result is the dozen programs through which we engaged and are helping to transform the regional media ecosystem in 11 African countries today.
“Generative AI will undoubtedly usher in a massive disruption as we can already see how it is transforming digital, through incredible speed and technological advances.
“The easiest illustration of this will be how to understand the torrents of new applications and developments rolling out daily less than two years after the introduction of ChatGPT in November 2022.”
The CJID Boss also asserted that the essence of the conference is to showcase some half-a-dozen tools of innovation and technology that are being built to help solve real industry problems.
“Today we are sharing designs to help advance the substantive mission of good journalism as a project of democracy.
“This is a straight line from our mission to leverage journalism, innovation, and open data to promote democratic accountability for inclusive and sustainable development.”
In their separate goodwill messages, Toyin Akiniyi, VP Africa, Luminate, Vincent Ryan, Google News Initiative, said their organizations would continue to support initiative that would enhance the development of civil society and the media practice in Nigeria.
AI tools developed by CJID include Dubawa Chatbot, Dubawa Audio Platform, and Nubia were created as solutions to combat information disorder and also soften investigative and data driven journalism.
Launching the tools, Mounsur Hussain, CJID’s Chief of Innovation said: “Artificial Intelligence is currently at the forefront of tools aimed at addressing misinformation, malinformation, and disinformation.”
The AI Dialogue conference had sessions that included Global AI Landscape and the Opportunities for Nigeria, Demonstrations of AI Powered Tools, and AI Deepfake, Disinformation Landscape, and the Ethics and Safety Concerns in the Adoption of AI for Media and Civil Society Practice.
