Stephanie Hughes

The Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio, has been around since the 1800s.

Now it's leaning into a very 21st century tactic, embracing the use of AI in its journalism.

That includes the AI actually writing articles.

The paper's editor, Chris Quinn, says incorporating artificial intelligence is critical to its success.

Willow Remus wrote about this for the Washington Post.

I took a look.

I understand that when the AI is part of the reporting process, it gets a byline called the Advanced Local Express Desk.

And I looked at some of the stories it wrote.

It does file a lot, which I guess makes sense.

Very prolific.

It talks about the Cleveland Browns' new head coach.

There's a feature about the area's local port authority.

What's your take on the journalism that it creates?

You mentioned the paper's editor, Chris Quinn.

He wrote about the paper's use of AI in writing articles.

And this letter that he wrote basically outraged a ton of journalists sort of across the world.

Tell me why he's so gung-ho about this.

Yeah, you know, Quinn says they are now covering parts of the state that they weren't, you know, recently.

Is an AI reporter better than no reporter at all?

We'll be right back