Monografico_3_EN_Doxa_29

As for the texts produced by the software, they have a style, structure and composition not much different from a summary lead in journalism. In other words, this technology works best with simple information that requires a system of repetitive composition based on data. The information produced by Gabriele lacks diversity in points of view, quality of sources, context, and interpretation, as corroborated by the sample surveyed in this research (N=145). In the case of the news about Apple’s quarterly results, 83.13% of the sample believe that the text lacks context and interpretation, and as a result it is superficial (29.51%), overly restrained, and too concise (9.79%), while in the news about the intention to vote in the general elections in Spain on 26 June 2016, 79.64% consider the text to be lacking in variety of expression with regard to the facts narrated, and as a consequence the information is monotonous (28.20%), lacking in rhythm (25.30%), poor in vocabulary (15.17%), and has an improvable style (10.97%). Hypothesis 3 is therefore confirmed, since AI is not yet capable of generating texts of a complex or unpredictable nature, which requires human qualities that are still lacking among robots, among many others. Moreover, this software cannot write its own opinion, invent things, or even contribute to forming an opinion. In other words, the component of closeness, of human psychology, so highly valued on many occasions in the journalistic world, is currently not foreseen as an ability that robots will have in the future (García, 2017). Under these circumstances, journalists must take advantage of their competitive edge and their ability to reason as humans. This is why Villoro (2017) requests that information professionals write in a way that is meticulous, reflective, and soothing. Writing also involves the conveyance of emotion. This is well known to journalists, whose stories emphasize observation as well as the ability to discern and express experiences, despite the fact that for years they have wanted to equate journalism with the rhetoric of objectivity and predominantly informative.

In line with these approaches, the theories of Cerezo (2018), Renó (2018), Salaverría (2016), and Túñez and Toural (2018) are endorsed, which consider there is no real danger of the profession becoming extinct, but instead see a process of change and adjustment in which machines will be incorporated as proactive players, and in which journalists must emphasize their personal contribution, or in other words, the cognitive part of news creation. As a result, editors must stop seeing emerging technologies as enemies and start thinking of them as tools to make their job easier and better, as stated by Cosoy (2017), because AI helps in the automation and improvement of many of the processes that are currently being being carried out manually (Salazar, 2018). In this context, Van Dalen (2012) places his bet on clearly defining the functions and roles of information professionals who cannot compete with some of the advantages offered by computer-generated automatic writing systems, such as low marginal costs, speed in writing articles, and the wide spectrum of events that can be covered. It is also necessary to address the need to prepare journalists for a changing environment in which technology determines transformation. This forces us to understand their proposals and peculiarities, but without neglecting journalistic foundations that have developed over time (López García, Rodríguez Vázquez, Pereira-Fariña, 2017). This research is not exhaustive regarding the issue studied; on the contrary, it reaffirms that the debate is open and evolving.

This study, despite corroborating the three initial hypotheses, has certain limitations and leaves open the possibility of future research. A broader sample would have made it possible to obtain more conditions that could have been extrapolated to the entire market in the same way that the inclusion of international initiatives could help to compare the development of these initiatives in Spain with those of other countries. This does not invalidate the results, however, since the primary purpose of this work was not quantitative, but qualitative. Finally, with regard to future research in this area, there is