In This Cleveland Newsroom, AI Is Writing (But Not Reporting) the News

Cleveland.com is embracing AI tools, including an AI rewrite desk.

In October of last year, Chris Quinn, the editor of Cleveland.com and the Plain Dealer, posted a job listing for an “AI rewrite specialist.” Quinn imagined this new employee would use an AI chatbot to turn reporting from the newsroom’s journalists into written articles, which the human hire would then fact-check. Quinn’s hope was that reporters would spend more time gathering information, less time typing it up.

Last month, Quinn filled the role with Joshua Newman—who had previously worked at LoneStarLive.com in Austin, covering the University of Texas. By mid-January, Newman was working on stories with AI’s help, using an in-house version of ChatGPT provided by the newsroom’s corporate parent, Advance Local. Quinn was pleased: the plan was working out. He wrote a letter to Cleveland.com readers, as he often does, noting the success of the AI rewrite desk—and calling out journalism schools for failing to instill into students a willingness to embrace AI. “Artificial intelligence is not bad for newsrooms,” he wrote. “It’s the future of them.”