<aside> <img src="/icons/gear_gray.svg" alt="/icons/gear_gray.svg" width="40px" /> This guide is designed to be used in conjunction with our newsroom’s website: EvanstonAI.org The password to access the website: KnightLab (case-sensitive)

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As AI becomes increasingly prevalent in our daily lives, student journalists face the challenge of navigating how to responsibly adopt AI tools in their newsrooms. This guide, created by a group of six students from the Northwestern University Knight Lab, aims to advise student journalists on the effective and ethical use of AI to enhance the reach, impact, and sustainability of their work.

Table of Contents

Workflow

Case Study

Tool Analysis and Takeaways

Code of Ethics

Recommended Resources

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<aside> 🎯 WHO? This guide was created by a group of six students from the Northwestern University Knight Lab, an interdisciplinary studio exploring the intersections of media and technology.

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<aside> ❓ WHAT? This guide advises student journalists on the responsible use of AI tools to enhance the reach, impact and sustainability of their work in classes and newsrooms. It is the product of a ten-week-long project exploring the current state of AI tools and how they can support the vital work of journalism. This project included the creation of an AI-powered newsroom, “EvanstonAI.” This guide is designed to be used in conjunction with EvanstonAI.org, a website with over 20 AI-powered articles that demonstrate both the possibilities and limitations of AI tools.

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<aside> ⌚ WHEN? The guide collates work and research that took place between March and May 2024, a period of rapid technological change. Within these months, the release of ChatGPT 4-omni and other major AI advances highlighted the swiftly evolving nature of AI tools and their applications. It is important to note that the environment, products, and capabilities are continuously advancing, and certain aspects of this guide should be understood as representative of this specific moment in time.

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WHERE? EvanstonAI simulates a local newsroom covering news from Evanston, Illinois, a suburb home to Northwestern University and located 12 miles north of Chicago.

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<aside> 🚧 WHY? In a world where AI is becoming more ingrained in life, our guide aims to help train the next generation of journalists on how to effectively and ethically leverage AI technologies in their reporting and storytelling. AI opens a new world of possibilities for small newsrooms to expand and enhance their coverage. However, it also raises many ethical questions which we have the responsibility to fully consider. To help train the next generation of journalists on how to effectively leverage AI technologies in their reporting and storytelling. AI raises many ethics questions, to which we created a code of ethics we believe should be followed to encourage the use of AI tools in a way that aligns with the values taught in journalism classes.

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<aside> 💻 HOW? We started with local sources from Evanston and used AI throughout the writing and editing process, combined with human oversight. A more specific workflow of our process and case study of how we went about producing a specific article can be found in sections I and II.

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