By Perpetua Murungweni
Zimbabwean journalists have been urged to embrace the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to combat information disorders that are threatening free flow of information.
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on ICT Postal and Courier Services member, Budiriro South legislator Darlington Chigumbu said journalists should acquaint themselves with Al tools that help fight fake news and information so they improve their literacy in technology.
Chigumbu was speaking during the AI Regulation In The Age of Information Disorders held at Monomotapa Hotel on the sidelines of the Media Institute in Southern Africa (MISA) 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) on October 25, 2024 in Harare.
“To successfully implement, adopt and deploy artificial intelligence journalists need to have skills and sound knowledge of AI. There is need to give these machines a chance to understand information through our work so that it will be able to mimic the correct information. AI is generating fake news because the information of our work does not exist in its memory,” said Chigumbu.
He also said journalists play a crucial role in fighting information disorders through the use of AI.
“As we are faced with challenges in addressing information disorders in the age of AI, journalists in particular hold a crucial role in ensuring the integrity, accuracy and transparency of information our people rely on every day.
“Journalists are the first line of defence in combating information disorder, for them to effectively do so they need to be capacitated with digital literacy in AI education.
“They must also be capacitated with verification tools, that will enable them to verify and be able to counter misinformation, leveraging AI to counter AI is very important,” he said.
Speaking at the same event, Information Technology (IT) expert Chris Musodza said AI has came with a lot of challenges that require a legal framework.
“AI comes with problems that require a legal framework. It widens the digital divide gap because most of the AI applications run on the internet and it has amplified how much people rely on the internet,” said Musodza.
