Eden Benibo is the Editorial Director of Hello ICON magazine, recently receiving the INMA 30 under 30 award for Editorial Leadership. In this interview she is speaking about her thoughts and opinions about practical use of AI and shares valuable experiences and insights from the recent ACOS conference in October.
What are the most interesting use cases you experienced recently in your field of work and why?
"Boundlessness. (literal) Breakthroughs. Balance/Caution. These are the words that repeatedly come to mind when I think about Artificial Intelligence, any day, any time. I’ll try as much as possible not to mention specific names of products and services as I really just want to share my truth in all authenticity, but even if I have to, please know I am in no way affiliated to these companies for commercial purposes or otherwise.
As a journalist who is always keen on producing visual and explanatory insights for the audience I serve per time, I’ll like to start by using words to paint an imagery and to give a vivid illustration of my overall use case experience of Artificial Intelligence.
It’s been a breath of fresh air and has given my ‘small but mighty’ team and literal "wings to fly", easing the entirety of our production processes, especially as a digital media platform. I am the Editorial Director and Lead Interviewer at Hello ICON Magazine where 95% of our exclusive interviews are done remotely, leveraging digital platforms like Zoom. Within just the first year of Hello ICON, we conducted over a 100 digital interviews from over 20 countries and 4 continents. Over the past two years, we have had a struggle manually transcribing our very lengthy interviews from audio to texts and have had to get more hands on deck to join our transcription team. This in turn made our editorial team experience work overload as the transcriptions sent in are usually filled with gross errors and need multiple corrections.
Today, the use of AI- empowered transcription services have been such a huge relief for us as a team because our unique interviews are one of the distinguishing factors of our brand. These transcription tools are so good that they can detect multiple speakers and work through a noisy environment. While most of our interviews are carried out in calm spaces, sometimes an urgent story may require us to do interviews with an interviewee in a rather noisy space or at an event in a not so calm environment. All these worries have significantly dissolved with the aid of these technological tools. But I’d like to point out that this does not negate the need for human editors.
What people should understand most is that, yes, AI is here to stay, but not here to replace us as humans. Like Olamide Osho, our Head of Tech at Hello ICON Magazine would often say— AI is just another level computers have gotten to. In his words, “anything that computes will always need to still input. AI may learn on its own, but even the learning is based on the data that has been inputed in it.” In other words, AI needs us to effectively operate and we need AI to enhance our creativity and work processes. A recent article at Hello ICON shares more highlight here on AI and The Indispensability of Human Touch.
This is where balance and a human-centered approach comes in. At Hello ICON Magazine, we also sometimes use AI generated images and illustrations which gives us great quality, saves time and enhances our visual storytelling productions. The transcription services and the AI image generators are the two use cases I have as currently, we are not open to a number of AI empowered services that interfere in our journalistic ethics and integrity."
Which changes -by the influence of artificial intelligence - could you identify in your field of work?
"In the last few months, more than ever before, I have seen an inside-out influence of Artificial Intelligence on journalism. This entails major influences on not just the story we tell but also how we tell them. On not just how we tell these stories but also who we tell them to— our audience. And an influence on not just our audience but even ourselves as journalists.
In terms of a major shift and influence on the stories we tell, I recently interacted with a co-journalist at the just concluded ACOS Alliance Annual Meeting in London who is working on a story of how Artificial Intelligence is making groundbreaking scientific moves to enable the living communicate with their dead loved ones. While this is both intriguing and rather scary, this is the type of out-of-the-box stories and documentaries innovative journalists are currently working on. Enlightening the audience and keeping the world abreast of major
technological shifts. The possibilities of such non-fictional stories wouldn’t have existed a few years back but for the rise of Artificial Intelligence in our current ever-evolving reality.
On how we tell these stories, media houses are getting more flexible in adopting ways to reach new audiences away from the usual traditional publication means. These include AI tools that aid personalization based on audience preferences by studying reader’s behavior and other systematic metrics. In terms of the audience we serve as journalists, Artificial Intelligence is rapidly refining user tastes and needs, expanding possibilities and the hunger to explore contents across platforms. This is why, sectors that do not meet up to these current realities and standards may be left behind or drown in this huge wave of constant changes and innovations.
With many things fighting for the very short attention span of audiences especially in the digital world of trends and clicks, news outlets and mediahouses are now adopting more user-friendly tools which doubles for a more interactive content production.
As journalists we often do not talk about the workload that comes with our job, affecting our physical, mental and even emotional well-being. In the long run, this affects the sustainability of a flourishing personal and professional life. With the advent of AI empowered tools, a journalist can now enjoy streamlined workflow, save time and energy to better focus on quality contents leading to an overall enhanced human capacity for more work productivity.
It’s like an interconnected circle of what - content | for who - the audience | why - reason | by who - the journalist. Although some are often overlooked, every piece of this puzzle is important for great functionality and AI is here to leave no stone unturned."
How big of an impact do you think will the influence of artificial
intelligence have in your field of work and what are the characteristics?
"Like I shared earlier, the influence of AI will encompass the entirety of the future of journalism. Again to paint a vivid example of this, I’ll share a glimpse of our current upscale at Hello ICON Magazine. We are building a groundbreaking approach to digital news and entertainment, accessible directly through the web.
Gospel Ononwi, our lead AI Engineer in charge of this project better explains it in his words below: “Hello ICON Metaverse Platform is an immersive, web-based ecosystem designed to revolutionize how users consume news, entertainment, and educational content within a metaverse-inspired space. Unlike traditional virtual reality-based metaverses, Hello ICON is accessible through standard web browsers, offering users a rich and interactive experience without the need for VR equipment or game engines.”
At Hello ICON, our priority has always been beyond publishing to creating real-time impact in the daily lives of our audience and AI is helping us bring this dream to reality, more than ever before.
Another vivid example is how Dr. Michelle Ferrier, a pioneer in digital content and online education communities made a highly insightful presentation at the ACOS Annual Meeting on a recent media innovation by Trollbusters— with over 11 awards won in the last three years, the Trollbusters team are focused on creating ‘educational materials and trainings for journalists about digital safety and creating in a digital age.’This presentation by Dr. Ferrier was on their latest project called "Navigator" an AI empowered assistant for journalists navigating online threats. While this is the first in the series of country-specific AI assistants, the goal is to expand reach to facilitate this emergency aid to other journalists in distress. Currently, the Navigator is a generative AI tool designed to provide guidance for UK- based media professionals about laws related to online safety.
I specifically used these two practical examples as they reflect the characteristics and influence of AI in the future of journalism, encompassing the impacts on us as individual journalists , the work we do—the contents we produce and how we distribute them to the audience we serve."
What development in your industry would you wish for? How could technological innovation/ artificial intelligence contribute?
"I remember back in the days as an undergraduate of journalism, I wasn’t so intrigued about sitting down to listen to a newscaster or paying so much attention to reading a newspaper and all the traditional means of news production and distribution. This had nothing to do with my passion for journalism. I was utterly passionate about the field I had chosen and almost a
decade later, I still am. But I noticed this was more of a problem on the processes. The channels. The mediums. The approaches to the dissemination of these informations that were highly important in themselves. This is why one of my utmost wishes in all of these technological advancements is to see more relatable, value driven and solutions-oriented journalism practice with dissemination of contents via rather unconventional means.
Today as Editorial Director at Hello ICON Magazine via surveys and constructive feedbacks we are constantly building new approaches to content delivery that appeals to an inter-generational audience. This includes visualized stories, unconventional documentaries, illustrated reports and overall interactive contents that stay intriguing and relatable to our audience while maintaining ethics and objectivity. AI and the general technological innovations will serve as the bedrock of this new development and approaches to storytelling in the industry of journalism.
The beauty of AI is how it aids not just the production processes but also informs the producers to make better tailor-made contents for specific audiences which vary from media house to media house. I recently interviewed a lady who simply gets paid for writing and training fresh university graduates on how to write CVs that highlights their best features and help them secure their dream jobs. According to her, in the past she was only able to attend to about 5 to 10 clients in a week, yet these clients would have to still wait for at least a week to get personalized and constructive feedbacks. This work process using human efforts slowed down her reach as the demand became more than the supply she could afford even with a team working with her. But currently, with the use of AI, she is able to serve thousands of clients without reducing the quality of her one-on-one feedback and the efficiency of her work. This is how powerful AI can aid work processes and delivery.
For journalism, AI will significantly revolutionize digital distribution, information capturing, production processes, expanding reach and ultimately, impact."
What are eventual risks and/or threats that you see that come with the technological development?
"At Hello ICON we recently began a series led by Kitamuji Aseme, our Senior AI Columnist to better keep our audience who are mainly creative professionals informed on the basics of Artificial Intelligence and how to use it ethically for good.
The biggest threat and risks will spring from a time when the level of investments in developing these technologies outweigh the level of investments in the people— the users.
From over-dependence on AI, the use of news article generator, and counter fact-checking tools.
Another fast growing risk is the alarming increase of hallucination, where a manipulative video of a popular figure is used to promote both disinformation and misinformation. In the past, people understood written articles can easily be manipulated, so people believed more in pictures and videos for fact verifications. But today, these AI generated pictures and videos look so much like the original that one can barely differentiate the manipulations from
the real. And while there are also AI tools to enable one detect the facts, how many media houses can afford these tools and how many know they exist and how many can effectively use them—currently, to better inform their audiences?
In August 2024, I conducted a survey and mini-interview among selected journalists, social media influencers, top content creators and major media stakeholders which sadly revealed that just one in ten could speak about the general knowledge of AI for up to 45 seconds.
This is an issue because these are not just general consumers or members of the public but the informants of the people.
Like Dr. Myles Munroe of blessed memories rightly said “When purpose is not known, abuse is inevitable.” In a world where knowledge is both power and the new currency, a proper democratization of knowledge not just among a few elites but starting with the informants of the people— media professionals will make for a more informed user-approach to these technological developments. As much as these robots are trained, there is a double need to train the people who will use them, to enable more holistic and ethical practice which will in turn maximize the potential benefits and mitigate the risks and threats involved."
Eden Benibo is a purpose-driven journalist passionate about emerging technologies, political policies, and the creative digital economy. As Editorial Director of Hello ICON Magazine, she champions underserved creatives, focusing on African youth and children. A multiple award-winning journalist, Eden recently received the INMA 30 Under 30 Award for Editorial Leadership and participated in the 2024 ACOS Meeting in London. She is the first Nigerian RoundTable Global Change Ambassador and has hosted panels at AfricaNXT. Eden also mentors through initiatives like the Diana Awards and Africa Matters, advancing a more inclusive and sustainable future for creators worldwide.
This interview is part of PANTA Experts where we interview diverse experts in the media industry and beyond. Interviewer: Jan Kersling (PANTA RHAI).
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