News by conversation?
Well, it’s starting to happen – to a small extent, as reported by The New York Times’ Benjamin Mullin.
The implications of news by conversation are a tad scary for lawyers and law firms publishing legal insight and commentary to build a name.
At some point, I could have a conversation with AI to “get” what I need without doing a search, traveling to legal sites or subscribing to various legal blogs or email newsletters.
All a concept I have been noodling about, but it wasn’t until reading Mullin’s story today that I heard about news by conversation in the making.
Longtime digital news publisher BuzzFeed introduced a free chatbot called Botaouille on Tuesday, which serves up recipe recommendations from Tasty, BuzzFeed’s food brand.
Knowing that OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology powers Tasty, you can see how tailored databases can provide news via conversation.
Mullin reports that BuzzFeed may be alone, but other news companies are considering AI. “Executives at Bloomberg, Insider, and The New York Times are all weighing the potential upside against risks to their existing businesses.
The possible pitfalls include a loss of traffic from search engines, as AI-powered chatbots answer search queries,” Mullin writes.
Mullin found Botaouille worked well in identifying a cocktail recipe for a friend’s dinner party and a meal for a laid off digital media worker.
It’s easy to dismiss news by conversation, today, but what about a year from now. AI has proven to move pretty fast.