Philly Plain Dealer

The job of a journalist is really two-fold, the first part of the job is to identify relevant sources and information and the second part is to communicate the relevant information in the form of a story. Artificial Intelligence companies claim that their products can do both of those jobs. 

A journalist who supports the use of artificial intelligence is essentially a chicken that supports factory farming. In an age where media is distrusted and the audience is segmenting to weirder corners of the internet, AI slop appears as news everywhere whether it’s from Sport Illustrated, the news conglomerate Gannett, or numerous Substack accounts that are automated by AI. There are uses of the technology that make some sense, like how the Philadelphia Inquirer uses an AI named “Dewey” to assist in archival research. However, we feel that newsrooms should be the front lines of the war against AI – the answer should be a strict and firm “no” from newsrooms asked to integrate artificial intelligence into their workflow.

Across the country, regardless of the field you are in – AI integration is being encouraged by decision makers who are being sold AI as a cost-cutting measure. They are being sold this AI by CRM and B2B SaaS companies that sell the backend infrastructure to companies across the country. There is no part of the economy that is unaffected by the massive bet that Wall Street and the American economy has placed on AI being the future. AI is being sold as a cure-all to problems that do not exist. Is AI the future? Maybe – unfortunately, but why rush into it complicitly?  

The case can be made in some capacity for how artificial intelligence can make a job easier and more efficient, however we at the Philly Plain Dealer feel that the trade off in ease and efficiency is not worth risking the trust we are building with our readers. 

We like writing and we like researching, that’s why we became journalists.

For these reasons and many others, the Philly Plain Dealer is making a no Artificial Intelligence pledge. We will never use artificial intelligence to write words on our website or print edition. Our journalism will forever be 100% human made. We would rather shut down than publish a single word written by a robot.

We ask other newsrooms to join us in making this pledge because: keeping AI out of newsrooms is the best long term solution to ensure job security in this field, use of AI in journalism will breed distrust from the public, and lastly because the benefits of AI use do not outweigh the negatives of AI use which include environmental damage, complicity in a fascist oligarchy ran by tech-overlords, and destroying journalism as a whole. 

Below a handful of Philly Plain Dealer journalists shared why they are against the use of artificial intelligence in reporting:

Kate Shuman:

Let’s take a moment and imagine that the billionaires running AI data centers aren’t depriving the world of precious natural resources faster than the billionaires who run oil corporations. All that to say—even if AI had no effect on the environment, I still wouldn’t use it. It’s being used by students for writing assignments which allows no room for critical thinking or creativity. It is being used by educators who are relieved there is an easier way to organize their time. Its users are able to “create” deepfake nude images targeting women. Teenagers who are experiencing mental health issues have turned to a chatbot that convinced them to end their life. Our future with AI looks bleaker than the sorry excuses for “art” it “creates.” AI is being pushed on us relentlessly and every time I Google something, I have to remember to add ‘-ai’ after my search to avoid using it. To justify the use of AI and the development of data centers is to willingly part ways with humanity and compassion.

Stella Chiavon:

• it makes us dumber (reduces critical thinking skills, harms learning abilities)
• the use of drinkable water in order to power it (and overall environmental impact)
• causes a lack of video and photo credibility online and even a potential legal effect 
• inauthentic “art” creation

I could go on, but here’s my rough, condensed list.

Jason N. Peters:

In 2024 I interviewed 2 AI specialists and began working with Google. Google employees were candid with me about the upcoming AI revolution and I was candid in telling them that “AI is shit.” The two AI specialists I interviewed were for my podcast series 2100, and in this episode I made everything with AI, episode summary, music, art, etc – the process left me feeling gross and hollow. 

If accountants wanna waste Memphis’s drinking water to account better, I don’t love it – but I’m not going to get involved. However, the idea that newsrooms need to incorporate AI into their reporting is ludicrous. I’ve only worked as a freelance writer, I’ve been offered one full-time journalism job in my life and the ask was for me to write 15 articles a week for $35,000 a year for a Philadelphia-based outlet. Can you imagine how much worse conditions in small newsrooms will get if the big guys all start normalizing AI?

AI is making the youth dumber. Why would a young person aspire to be “smart” if they have a machine with all the answers in their pocket and the entire world is telling them to use it? AI is poisoning the planet, AI is making evil people richer, and AI writes without any soul.

I’d rather have a news outlet riddled with grammatical errors than a news outlet with no soul. Unfortunately many news outlets sold their souls a long time ago, which is why we need to make this pledge. 

Kevin Penn: 

Last year while canvassing, I met a woman at her home in South Philly, she was a writer and she told me corporate accountability was her biggest issue and the reason why was because she had lost her job due to AI and was struggling to find further writing jobs and she began to cry to me, and I also felt upset and frustrated for her because it was awful to hear from someone who was in their late 30s had made a decent living off of their passion only to be replaced by AI and feeling as if she has no hope. I had a canvasser I was training, but knew he wasn’t going to remain long on the job, who told me he used to write but then he found ChatGPT and he said “oh well that writes much better than me and they’re great writers” I explained to him how it all works and how he should still write and not give up just because he thinks it works better but he was adamant that he will never try writing again and will only stick with AI. I have further reasons but those two personally stuck out to me right now.

If you’re the head of a newsroom or an independent journalist, reach out in the contact box below and we can work together.

In December 2025 the NewsGuild-CWA which represents 27,000 members across North America released a list of five demands for Ethical Use of AI in Journalism. We ask local newsrooms to adhere to those demands, abstain from AI entirely, or risk losing the trust of the public.