Code for Africa’s Chris Roper and Amanda Strydom on AI, disinformation and the future of journalism

In this episode, I am talking to Chris Roper, Deputy CEO of Code for Africa and Amanda  Strydom, Senior Programme Manager for CivicSignal, a programme within Code for Africa, which maps and offers insights into media ecosystems in Africa using research and machine learning tools.



We talked about how the newsrooms they work with apply AI in their professional life. What are the AI-related issues that African newsrooms are truggling with and what kind  of solutions are they coming up with?



Code for Africa is also well-known for their work in tackling mis- and disinformation.  Chris and Amanda talk about different ways their organisation is helping African journalists to fight disinformation in a foundational way and what’s the role of AI in it.



Main topics we’ve discussed in this episode:



-The role of AI in helping journalists and citizens tackle mis/disinformation



-Generational differences in perceiving misinformation 



-Ethical policies of using AI in a newsroom: how to approach them



-Who owns your data which you share with AI tools



-The environmental effect of AI



-Life hacks from Chris and Amanda: how to use AI in a storytelling context 



-The future of AI and how it will shape the future of journalism 



-Does AI create more inequality in the Global South 



-What help journalists can get from Code for Africa and how they can collaborate with the organisation 



-AI-related regulations and laws: the ideal and real scenarios



-The importance of AI tools in investigative journalism 



-Exciting AI projects Chris and Amanda are working on  now