After jobs warning, Germany's Axel Springer says AI can liberate journalists

FILE PHOTO: Artificial Intelligence words are seen in this illustration taken March 31, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

BERLIN (Reuters) - A senior executive at German media giant Axel Springer on Thursday said artificial intelligence would free journalists to devote more time to core reporting, days after an internal email warned the technology would lead to significant job losses.

"For newsrooms, AI opens up new paths and freedoms. Journalists can outsource tedious work to AI and devote more time and energy to their core tasks," Chief Information Officer Samir Fadlallah told Reuters on the sidelines of a media conference in Berlin.

The company will address challenges around the technology "constructively," he said.

In an email seen by Reuters earlier this week, the publisher outlined a "digital only" roadmap for its mass-circulation Bild tabloid to be implemented by the beginning of 2024, saying that its "AI offensive" meant that many jobs would become redundant.

"The functions of editorial managers, page editors, proofreaders, secretaries and photo editors will no longer exist as they do today," the editorial leadership team wrote to Bild staff.

While Springer did not comment on the number of jobs at risk, company sources told Reuters a low three-digit number of employees would ultimately have to leave.

Fadlallah said his focus was on regulatory challenges and the opportunities the technology opens up for consumers.

"We see great potential in Generative AI to provide our readers and users with even more attractive and individually tailored products," he said, adding that it offers users "completely new opportunities for interaction."

"The focus is certainly on topics such as necessary regulation, remuneration for the use of our content as training material for large language models, and data protection," he said.

The company has said it aims to improve earnings at its flagship Bild and Welt publications by 100 million euros ($109.14 million) by 2025 through revenue increases and cost savings, and intends to fully stop producing print edition newspapers in the medium term.

Axel Springer is active in more than 40 countries and employs more than 18,000 people worldwide. Alongside its German titles, the firm owns English-language news website Politico, U.S. media company Insider and classified portals StepStone and AVIV.

($1 = 0.9163 euros)

(Reporting by Klaus Lauer, Writing by Anna Mackenzie)