Hunker down, or plug in: SPH Media chairman on AI and why journalists can’t be replaced

SINGAPORE – With artificial intelligence reshaping the media industry, SPH Media executive chairman Chan Yeng Kit said the company has two choices.

The first is to hunker down and protect what it has, and try to push back against any AI force that threatens its business.

The second is to become an indispensable part of whatever new AI platform that catches on, even as it defends what matters at the core for a news company.

SPH has chosen the second path, with the goal of having its voice wherever people seek news and information, including from AI sources, said Chan.

In an interview with SPH Media journalists, Chan said it was important for the media organisation to be plugged in, given the risk of being cut out of how people consume news altogether.

“What I worry about is, at a more strategic level, a total disintermediation of particular parts of the business value chain that we have,” he said. 

To this end, SPH Media has signed a number of agreements, including a collaboration with Google in April.

The partnership with the search giant will provide SPH journalists with training in generative AI verification for investigative research and facilitate responsible AI use in its newsrooms.

At the same time, the collaboration will ensure that SPH’s content reaches wider audiences promptly through stronger integration with Google’s distribution channels.

Chan said the media organisation is working with other partners as well but did not elaborate further, citing non-disclosure agreements.

“Any time someone asks for news and information from an AI source, we want our voice to be there,” he said.

AI also presents an opportunity for SPH Media to do a lot more with what it already has to reach bigger audiences without much incremental costs, said Chan. For instance, the media organisation is using AI translation in the push for its titles to become more multilingual.

The eventual goal is to have an English edition of Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao with proper copy-editing and enough attention to the fidelity of translation, and to do likewise for Berita Harian and Tamil Murasu.

“Now, the AI translation engine can do 98 per cent of the work. You just have a copy editor at the end,” he said, contrasting this with the past, when such work would have depended entirely on human translators.

What AI cannot do is generate original content, which is why reporters are still needed.

“It will be a while before robots are empathetic enough (to) go and interview an auntie, and get the auntie to pour out all her stories to you,” he said.

Another aspect of the news that requires humans is editorial judgment and insights, said Chan. “Maybe one of these days, AI would be good enough. But for now, I think these are core for us.”

For SPH Media, the key is to master these basics so that it can adapt no matter how the media landscape changes. Another part of its strategy is to have a stable of products, and not be a one-trick pony, added Chan.

No news company in the world – big or small – has figured out what the exact impact of AI will be on the industry, but Chan said he does not see the current wave of AI development as a passing fad. 

“If it turns out to be hype and you go in there, so be it,” he said. “But if it turns out to be important, then how can we be part of it – plugged in, that we are indispensable?”

Chan expressed optimism about the company’s future prospects, citing the common sense of mission he has observed in his informal lunches with reporters and editors.

While SPH Media “does not pay like the fintech companies or the AI companies or the big banks”, people choose to stay because they think the work they do is meaningful, he said.

“The sense of mission and the sense of wanting to do good journalism is always there,” he said. “It’s what drives them.”

Chin Soo Fang is senior correspondent at The Straits Times, covering a wide range of topics including community, politics, social issues, consumer, culture and heritage.