It seems like everyone is talking about AI right now. Some are thrilled about the potential benefits it could bring to our world. Others are terrified about the harm it could do, especially in the hands of bad actors. But regardless of how you feel about it, it certainly is going to play an outsize role in our futures.

One of the roles it will play will be in the field of journalism. Many predict that the process of actually writing news articles will become antiquated, as AI tools take over  and produce work at a rapid pace. We on The Roundup even tried using AI this past year, and found that it can do a pretty good job of producing content in certain circumstances.

But it quickly became apparent that journalism will still need humans, regardless of how advanced AI technologies become in the future. Because while AI is successful at taking a boatload of information and transforming it into an article, it can’t ask the right questions in an interview, or truly write persuasively, or even avoid making frequent factual mistakes in its work.

This is all to say that in the world of AI, I believe the role of human journalists is just as, if not even more important than it was previously. The areas where AI is deficient will be those that are amplified in both the newsroom and the workplace in general. And I can say from personal experience that I have developed tremendously in those uniquely human abilities, as well as in my curiosity about the world around me, since the first time I wrote an article for The Roundup Club in September of my freshman year.

I definitely didn’t develop on my own, however. The largest credit goes to Mr. Jake Kelly ’09, who has created a newsroom that has both challenged me and helped me to meet some great friends. Mr. Kelly constantly encourages our staff to push the boundaries of our labels as student journalists, and I’ve seen firsthand the role that effort has played in our success as a newspaper.

So I would urge every student even considering joining The Roundup to do so. Journalism develops habits that will be critical in an AI-focused future. Personally, I have grown hugely over the past four years reporting. Most importantly, however, it has been a genuinely enjoyable experience.