Robot hands typing on a keyboard

Automated journalism is on the rise: from Artificial Intelligence (AI) sniffing out fake news to more stories written by computers. But could this new communications technology be useful in internal comms?

Like a long-forgotten episode of Tomorrow’s World from the decade fashion forgot (as it’s fictional I’ll leave you to decide if that’s the ‘70s or ‘80s), new communications technology has made it possible for robots to become reporters. Ok, maybe not quite. But computers are now able to do much of the work needed to produce data-heavy content.

In fact, huge media organisations like the BBC are using machine-generated journalism on a larger scale than ever. In last year’s General Election, the Beeb ran a results story for every constituency overnight, but not thanks to a crack team of journos working until dawn. Instead, computers produced the stories using phrases that had been pre-programmed by BBC writers. So why is this (and other) corporation’s use of new communications technology of interest to internal comms teams?

1. It could help in producing lots of data-driven content

Do you find your team often producing stat-heavy, fairly formulaic material? Then it’s possible that tech like this could save some time. There are programs that eat up the raw data – like an election result or financial report – and pretty much instantly give you back a simple story with all the important facts.

2. You likely won’t tell the difference

You’ve almost certainly read an article ‘written’ by a robot and not even realised. Because the building blocks – like the template and range of phrases – are programmed by journalists, it becomes something akin to a human writer choosing from their arsenal of experience for the best way to tackle a story. There’s a related learning here too about achieving consistency in style. It’s not always easy for tone of voice to feel unified across a diverse team of content creators. Creating a list of the right types of wording and phrases that lives as an extension to your style sheet could help everyone understand what it looks and feels like.

3. They’re quick to spot less than reliable facts

AI – a different type of new communications technology – can actually pick up fake news. Facebook is famously using AI to detect patterns of words that could determine whether a story’s fake. So, if you routinely carry out lots of online research, could AI help you feel more confident that it’s giving you consistently credible information?

4. They don’t tire, they don’t mess up

Take an organisation like Bloomberg News, which publishes thousands of business and finance-related articles every few weeks. It’s been reported that around a third of that content is produced using some sort of automated technology, supporting all those hard-working journos who would never otherwise be able to meet that demand. Machines churn out the data-driven stories, leaving writers to do the bit we love most – crafting beautiful content. Could that be the future in your team too?

New communications technology can’t really replace people… right?

Nope. As with so many technological enhancements to human lives, this isn’t about computers stepping in and doing the job entirely. Yes, it’s great to understand how advances like this could save time, make research more robust, or help hit deadlines a human simply couldn’t meet.

But it’s not (yet) capable of great storytelling. Far from being a production line, it’s a creative process that needs us to question everything and needs emotion, opinion, heart and soul to play a part. And that’s not what machine-generated journalism is designed for. So absolutely keep an eye on the rise of the robots in communications. Just don’t expect to see WALL-E and his pals picking up a Pulitzer any time soon.

If you share our passion for learning about new communications technology (or anything comms-related really), we’d love to hear from you.