ABC-7 committed to confronting AI with reliability, transparency
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- On Sunday during the Oscars, ABC-7 viewers witnessed a First in Borderland television: we launched the area’s first promotional spot made with AI.
The exponential growth of Artificial Intelligence is challenging creative, ethical and legal norms around the world so KVIA, and its parent company News-Press & Gazette (NPG), decided to take on that challenge.
The spot was the brainchild of John McMinn, the station’s director of promotions, and Eric Bowers, its creative director. None of the scenes are real, except for the anchors.
The message: in a world of confusion and misinformation, you can rely on ABC-7.
The project required research and numerous discussions over weeks -- from copy to context to copyright.
As KVIA continues to explore new technologies, it is committed to maintaining a line between creative and news content.
When you watch an ABC-7 newscast, you are seeing carefully curated local news. We have developed at stringent system to ensure accuracy and reliability throughout all of our content. This has been our promise to you, our viewers, from the start.
In recent months, our team has fortified our commitment to this promise as threats against accuracy increase. The newly widespread availability of Artificial Intelligence has made it increasingly possible for fabricated information and images to seep into broadcast journalism.
ABC-7 does not shy away from harnessing the power of AI. We use it to make our creative and promotional processes more efficient. The reach of AI in our station stops there, however.
Think of a hospital, with a specially sealed off area designed to protect especially vulnerable patients from infection. Visitors to that section must wash their hands and wear a mask before entering. That sealed area is our newsroom, and we enforce the same level of strict precautions against AI-altered content as a hospital does against disease.
Rest assured that when you watch an ABC-7 newscast, engage with our content online, or like a post on social media, you gain access to a source of information rooted in solid journalistic and ethical principles. This will continue to be our promise to you for as long as our signal is on the air.
