By Nicholas Osei-Wusu
The anxiety among media practitioners that, the full deployment and adoption of Artificial Intelligence, AI is to ultimately take away their jobs has now given way to high optimism of high performance and cost effectiveness. They have now embraced the cutting edge technology as the way to go if they are to remain relevant and competitive in the fast changing technology-driven media industry. This was the views of participants of a training workshop organized by the US Agency for Global Media, Voice of America and the US Embassy in Ghana
The three-day training in Kumasi, organized by the US Agency for Global Media, the Voice of America with the support of the US Embassy in Ghana and also accredited by the Institute of Information Management of Africa. It was to build the capacity of selected media practitioners in Artificial Intelligence, AI for efficient, effective and cost effective story telling and content creation. It was also to empower the participants to be competitive in the ever evolving technology-driven media environment.
The 25 participants were selected from both state-owned and privately run media from the Ashanti, Bono, Bono East, Northern and Upper West regions. The beneficiaries, including Editors, were equipped with theoretical and hands-on cutting edge AI tools and knowledge for modern for media operations and taken through the foundation and applications of AI, AI driven Story-telling and Content Creation as well as Ethics, Challenges, and Future of AI in media. After the training, the participants expressed relief of their apprehension and fear of losing their jobs upon full deployment and adoption of AI by their media outlets. Some of them shared their experiences with GBC News indicating that, the anxiety had given way to optimism.
The Lead Facilitator, Mr. Celestine Achi, who is also an industry expert in AI and Data Analytics warned journalists and media organizations to either adapt to machine Learning, AI to become competitive or lose out of the industry.
The Lead Facilitator praised highly the participants for their level of enthusiasm, passion and readiness to learn the new technology. The participants were awarded Certificates by the US Agency for Global Media.
