Before I start, I want to assure you — I did not write this column using AI.
“Prove it,” you might say. Well, that’s the rub, as the cliche goes (the kind of cliche that AI writing models commonly overuse in their attempts to be “creative”). So you’ll have to take my assurance at face value on this.
I write this column terribly conflicted. I’m a journalist and news site publisher who has a lot of issues with our collective early adoption of artificial intelligence, about to explain to you why I use AI for aspects of publishing the North Coast Current. It’s an adoption that comes out of opportunity and necessity, and it would be irresponsible of me not to be up front about how it’s being utilized.
There are legitimate worries among journalists and consumers about how artificial intelligence threatens the news industry.
Already skeptical audiences can’t help but question whether what we produce is legitimate, which has serious implications during election years and eras of conflict like we’re in right now. Already hungry journalists can’t help but wonder what jobs will be left for them as news outlets, swallowed by larger and larger corporate interests, eliminate their positions in favor of AI-generated material.
Such concerns are well founded and rooted in recent examples:
✔️ Wired Magazine, Business Insider and other news outlets had to retract the work of supposed freelance journalist Margaux Blanchard when it was discovered that the author didn’t exist: “A closer look at the details of the story, though, along with further correspondence from the writer, made it clear to us that the story had been an AI fabrication,” Wired editors wrote in retracting the piece last August.
✔️ The Chicago Sun-Times published a book list for summer reading in 2025 that, while written by a real author, included an AI-generated list with titles that didn’t exist. “The Chicago Sun-Times’ Sunday paper included a syndicated special section produced by a third-party company that included a summer reading list,” the paper reported in its retraction. “The only problem — many of the books on that list do not exist.” The author, writing for a syndicate, apparently neglected to fact check the list.
✔️ In an internal memo, the chief executive of financial news outlet Business Insider announced that layoffs were in the pipeline — about 21% of the workforce, according to Reuters — as it looked to shift more to AI-driven production.
✔️ On April 2, the Poynter Institute reported that Nota, an AI company with clients such as The Boston Globe and the Institute for Nonprofit News, shuttered its Nota News network of local sites in communities identified as news deserts (those areas with little to no community coverage) when it was found that its technology plagiarized the work of journalists, using the work without attribution or pay. The 11 sites were collectively managed by two part-time editors. Some of the material was lifted from its own clients, including Nexstar, which owns San Diego TV news outlets KFMB, KUSI and KSWB. Nexstar’s recent acquisition of KFMB continues to be challenged in court.
This all matters because you rely on us to give you information you’re supposed to trust.
Between my journalistic and other creative work, I’m among the experimenters on the AI side of things. Admittedly, I’ve had fun seeing what AI is capable of, from writing to images and videos based on my extensive prompts, focusing on the absurdity of it all.
But, yes — I have now adopted artificial intelligence in the production of some North Coast Current material. This was born out of personal and economic necessity, and I do struggle with some of that decision’s implications. I receive occasional inquiries from readers about it, too.
As many of you know, the North Coast Current has one staff member, me. This includes OsideNews, which I bought back in 2022. I comb the outlet’s emails, catch news in passing from social media circles and people in the area, and do quick write-ups and publish news releases. When the budget permits, I assign more in-depth stories and projects to freelance writers and photographers I have vetted professionally or academically.
The incorporation of AI-related production centers on three aspects — material that I would write myself anyway, the ability to add more information in ways I wouldn’t have time to otherwise, and overall efficiency. It has not been adopted to replace employees or skimp on information.
With those aspects in mind, I have a specific process for using AI to craft some of what you read on the site. When AI is used, it’s noted in a tagline at the end of the story with a link to the Current’s About Us page, which has an explanation of how AI is used.
Here’s how the process works in detail:
✔️ First, I gather source material, anything from news releases from local nonprofits and agencies to extensive documents with verifiable information.
✔️ When I collect all of the information I need, I create a prompt to use with my AI model of choice (I go between three). My prompts are detailed, with specific, objective, newsworthy descriptions. I attach all of my directly sourced material to the request. I do not ask the model to do any research of its own; this helps avoid what are called hallucinations (incorrect or unverifiable information).
✔️ Once the agent has created the story, I do my own edits and fact-checking (including full rewrites if necessary), then I run the final version through the same model or a different one for an additional edit and fact-check. I then review the final results and make more adjustments if I need to.
✔️ The published story is given a general North Coast Current or OsideNews byline with a tagline at the end noting that the story was produced with the assistance of AI.
The process explained on the Current’s About Us page is a more generalized description of what I just covered, whether I or someone else affiliated with the site uses it.
Given my own concerns about AI’s creep into news media, I can’t help but feel some level of discomfort in using its capabilities. That said, incorporating AI processes has allowed me to produce more robust material based on my own information-gathering, more frequently, in a shorter amount of time.
Ultimately, it’s on us as journalists to be upfront about how and when we utilize AI, and it’s my continued hope that it will be used responsibly as a companion, not a replacement.
Roman S. Koenig is editor and publisher of the North Coast Current.
Columns are the opinions of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of North Coast Current ownership. Comment below or submit letters to the editor at letters[at]northcoastcurrent.com.
