Human resources to master AI technology - many challenges

The emergence of AI has made journalists both excited and nervous. AI not only helps in automating the content production process but also contributes to data analysis, improving content quality and enhancing user experience.

As stated by the Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association, Le Quoc Minh: “AI technologies, if applied and deployed early to maximize their power, can have a positive impact in helping press agencies develop sustainably.” However, AI is also a big challenge, from content production management to journalism ethics and legal factors. And from the perspective of human resource training, the rapid development of AI technology has put a lot of pressure on journalism training and development.

Journalist Vo Hung Thuat - Director of Tuoi Tre Newspaper Media Center said that the journalism industry and its operating model have been and are changing profoundly. However, journalism training activities today are still following the approach of professional training. The training program focuses heavily on traditional knowledge blocks... Not to mention that many universities still use old textbooks that do not reflect the reality of the modern journalism industry.

Some schools are too biased towards using lecturers with mainly research experience, leading to teaching lacking practicality or, conversely, too biased towards lecturers with only practical experience and lacking general knowledge. Subjects on programming and data analysis are almost absent. Therefore, journalism students often lack basic knowledge of technology, limiting their ability to work with modern digital journalism tools. In particular, AI is playing an increasingly important role in collecting, processing and creating journalistic content, but has not been systematically included in the training program.

Sharing the same view, journalist Nguyen Phu Huan - Editor of Voice of Vietnam Radio shared that in reality, journalism training institutions have not yet mastered AI technology and have not yet built a team of multi-talented journalists, leading to a lack of necessary skills and knowledge in the digital age. And when AI becomes an indispensable part of journalism, the issue of training reporters in the new situation is becoming urgent if we do not want the position of journalism that has existed for hundreds of years to become shaky and the risk of losing our jobs to threaten every journalist...

In addition to the challenges at training facilities, according to journalist Phu Huan, the reality is that the process of training and fostering reporters through short-term training courses also faces many difficulties. He said that the Center for Journalism Training under the Vietnam Journalists Association, or a number of press agencies, including local press agencies, have paid great attention and proactively organized training courses for reporters and editors on the application of AI in journalism activities.

For example, the Lam Dong Provincial Journalists Association, according to the 2024 plan, this Association registered with the Center to organize about 4 training courses, in which the main content is to continue applying artificial intelligence to operational activities. However, in reality, training activities for journalism skills from the Association's work tasks are taking place on a small scale. Currently, there are nearly 25,000 reporters who have been issued cards, not to mention those who are working in journalism but have not been issued cards, while each class only has about 2-3 students. Not to mention, AI is a new issue with many skills that need to be equipped, while the time for training courses on this topic is often short, only 3 to 4 training sessions in 2 days.

In addition, the quality of the teaching staff serving the training courses is not really uniform in terms of professional capacity, teaching experience, scientific and practical aspects in the lectures. This shows that the training and development of reporters in this work is still in its early stages, and needs to be further focused on, adjusted and improved.

What is the solution for training suitable human resources?

Discussing solutions, journalists all agreed that the problem of improving the quality of human resources is very important. Therefore, journalist Vo Hung Thuat emphasized the requirement: “We must immediately change the content and training methods so that in the near future, journalists need to be equipped with the necessary skills. First and foremost is content creation skills. Journalists need to understand the principles of content to create works and products suitable for different transmission channels. Journalists need the ability to create unique, valuable content that is different from content created by AI. Next are digital skills, critical thinking skills, communication skills, teamwork skills, and business skills.”

Journalist Nguyen Thanh Tung - Head of Communications Department of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper (HCMC) - Guest lecturer of Faculty of Journalism - Communication - University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City, believes that with the practice, the editorial office has provided a solution for training suitable human resources in the current context. Mr. Thanh Tung proposed that schools and journalism training centers need to develop and update new content in teaching learners about the application of AI technology in journalism.

Specifically: Strengthening new content on journalism ethics and standards when working with AI technology. That is, there needs to be updated content to help learners clearly understand the need to comply with ethical rules when exploiting and using AI technology, and at the same time grasp the principles and ways to apply them flexibly in specific situations that may arise in practice. In addition, it is also necessary to equip or update specialized knowledge on AI applications such as: SMAC convergent journalism system, algorithms and algorithm applications in journalism and media, Bigdata technology, artificial intelligence technology, data analysis technology, virtual reality technology, augmented reality...

At the same time, coordinate with press units and media companies to guide internships and enhance practical exercises for students to create press products that specifically apply AI, such as: Applying the operating principles of artificial intelligence and prompt engineering to effectively exploit AI tools to enhance visual and video effects; using AI to create text news, podcasts; using AI and supporting tools to create short videos/clips from the scene; using AI to synthesize and analyze data to form a series of events to create infographic news, charts, etc.

At the same time, Mr. Tung also said that the Center for Journalism Training of the Vietnam Journalists Association and other functional units need to continue to develop and implement short-term training courses and programs in the direction of updating new, practical and specific technologies to foster and improve the capacity of applying Artificial Intelligence in press production for reporters of press agencies, especially local newspapers and radio stations, which have less conditions than large Centers in accessing AI.

It can be said that proposals for training on AI always require coordination between the direction of the State's functional agencies and the Vietnam Journalists Association; coordination and close connection between journalism training institutions, schools and employers, which are press and media agencies. This is a difficult problem and requires a long roadmap with many things to do. However, in the immediate future, strengthening and innovating training content is necessary for journalists who want to use artificial intelligence to serve their work in the future, helping them to proactively and quickly update new technologies in their operations...

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