Artificial Intelligence is upon us and will change everything, according to award-winning freelance journalist and author, Dr Margaret Simons.

Exactly how is still hard to see, but we won’t have to wait long to see the impact on the media landscape, here and around the world.

After addressing a recent ABC Parliamentary Friends event in Canberra last month, Dr Simons added that the ABC should be being proactive in the enormous changes now taking place, and governments should be supporting it to be so.

With the streaming platforms now well established and AI and social media upon us, the question is how the ABC should interact with platforms it does not control, and how governments should respond to the threats and opportunities for the governability of the nation.

The failure to be sufficiently proactive at the dawn of social media should inform new approaches.

Dr Simons says there is a threat to current media business models because people are already being satisfied with an AI generated summary of what news sources say, rather than clicking through to the mastheads.

“AI is already being used to write headlines – which it does quite well, after training, and those useful “key points” summaries of articles that are increasingly popular at the head of stories,” she says.

“AI can analyse data and point out trends and inconsistencies that merit human investigation.

“It can, fed with sufficient content, produce formulaic stories – ten things to do in Bali. Sports results, and so forth.

“But it can’t do actual journalism, by which I mean going to places, talking to people, observing and reporting the results with judgement and clarity.

So far, that quintessential journalistic task of bearing witness remains an innately and essentially human activity which Dr Simons doesn’t expect to change.

But other things – like instant translation breaking down cultural barriers - are already happening fast. This will open new media markets, and new forms of cultural colonisation.

Late last year the government made announcements about its intention to legislate the News Media Incentive – a plan to use the tax system to impose a levy on digital platforms, such as Google, Meta and TikTok, with the money being redistributed to support organisations providing public interest news (defined as that which serves a civic purpose, operating with responsibility and accountability).

Dr Simons approves of this idea.

“There is plenty still to be worked out, plenty of room for timidity and delay, and in an election year, the attitude of the alternative government is not yet clear.

“But with this, it seems to me, we have the first signs of a coherent media policy addressing the crisis in journalism.

“And I say that after nearly 30 years of appearing before and making submissions to inquiry after inquiry about the news media. They have all made similar recommendations, yet action by governments has been ad hoc, reluctant and largely absent.

But perhaps the most significant shift in the pre-Christmas announcement is encapsulated in the policy framework that was released with news of this initiative, which says:

“Government influence [over the news media] must remain checked, but … inaction is no longer a viable option”.

The risks are obvious – government interference and a loss of independence. But Dr Simons says when the market fails, we need to find solutions.

“And using the tax system to address the crises, as the News Media Incentive proposes, has the beauty of being at arm’s length from political interference.”