Curated by: Frank Mungeam, Chief Innovation Officer, LMA
Generative AI tools
Art of the prompt
“Prompts” are the directions and the questions you ask Chat bots to get the assistance you want. Crafting effective prompts is key to getting the most out of AI assistants.
Prompt best practices include:
- Assign a role (you are an investigative reporter …)
- Provide context
- Give directions on length limits and format (list, graph, table) for responses
- Re-prompt to refine and go deeper
- Challenge results and ask for sourcing
Best use cases for storytellers
- Brainstorming
- Research
- Interview Preparation
- Transcription
- Drafting
- Editing
- Versioning
Advanced AI tools and use cases
Advanced tools are typically available in free-trial and paid versions. These tools generally are able to perform more specialized functions at a level higher than basic generative AI tools like Chat GPT, Claude, Gemini and CoPilot.
Custom GPTs (OpenAI)
A “Custom” GPT is a tailored version of a generative language model like ChatGPT, designed to meet specific needs or preferences. For example, you can search for Custom GPTs that specialize in: summarizing, data analysis, copyediting, and other key specialized roles.
Summarization
- AI Summarizer
- Chat Bots: Chat GPT, Gemini, Claude
Transcription
Translation
- DeepL
- Chat GPT (OpenAI)
- Google Translate
Audio Versioning
- Elevenlabs
- Canva
- Zingfrog.ai
- NotebookLM (google) — YouTube explainer: NotebookLM
Image/Video Creation
- Dall-E (images)
- Midjourney (images)
- DaVinci (images)
- Koala AI (video/text)
- Opus AI (video clipping)
Resources and case studies
A 30-minute AI strategy for news: How to accelerate adoption of ethical AI uses for news (Mungeam)
AI Ethics Guidelines for Newsrooms: A self-guided document to create an AI policy for newsrooms and journalists (Poynter)
Trust Kit for AI in News: A Guide to best practices for disclosure language for news uses of AI (Trusting News)
Creating a Culture of AI Innovation in Newsrooms: Lessons from Jay Allred at Lede.AI (Mungeam)
How the Baltimore Times uses AI to better serve its audiences: A case study on innovative AI uses for local news (Mungeam)
Thinking Strategically about AI in Local News: Q & A with AP’s Aimee Rinehart (Mungeam)
What AI Chatbots (might) mean for the future of local news: Exploring the impact of generative AI on news discovery (Mungeam)
Journalisttoolbox.ai: Resources and how-to videos for dozens of AI tools for journalists
A Practical Newsroom Guide to AI in Journalism (ONA)
CUNY AI Journalism Lab: Three month free course for journalists to explore AI
SATW 2024 Presentations
Storytellers: What You Can Do That AI Can’t