ONA AI for Freelancers

Mini-Lab��Materials: https://bit.ly/onafreelance

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Mike Reilley | May-June 2025

Case Study in AI Disasters

• In May 2025, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Philly Inquirer published a huge summer insert of pure, uncut chatbot slop. It was produced by King Features with a freelance writer who used AI�
• List of good “summer read” books: Many of them listed don’t exist�
• Read more:�
• Defector | Poynter

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AI Tools: The Bad

• Written by a freelancer who later admitted to using AI

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• Readers noticed and wrote letters to the Sun-Times about it�

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ONA 2025 AI Training Schedule

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• Mini-lab: AI for Freelancers: June 4, 2 p.m.��
• Give us your feedback in the chat: What would you like to see in the next several months?

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Register: Journalists.org

Introduction

Mike Reilley�

• UIC Senior Lecturer in Data and Digital Journalism�
• 23 years full-time teaching: Northwestern, ASU, DePaul and UIC�
• Launched Journalist’s Toolbox in 1996�
• Lead trainer for ONA/Microsoft AI in Journalism program and RTDNA/Google News Initiative tools program�
• More than 15,000 journalists trained in past decade��
• Former LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post staffer�
• One of 11 founding editors of ChicagoTribune.com�
• MikeReilley.com | mikereilley1@gmail.com | @journtoolbox | @itsmikereilley

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Introduction

Books�

• Author of two textbooks:�
• “Data + Journalism” (Routledge)�
• “The Journalist’s Toolbox: A Guide to Digital Reportiing and AI” (Routledge)

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JournalistsToolbox.ai

Tools That Are Relevant to Journalists�

• JournalistsToolbox.ai�
• Relaunched with AI focus in June 2023

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• Free newsletters and more than 125 short training videos�
• Thousands of links to AI tools (free and paid): Writing, editing, data, ethics, automation, fact-checking, etc. �
• Follow @journtoolbox | @itsmikereilley for updates

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Jerry Seinfeld on AI

“We were smart enough to create it. Dumb enough to need it. And stupid enough to question whether we did the right thing.”��

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In Quotes

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“ It's inevitable. I mean, it's like saying, 'I don't believe these cars are [going to] work. Let's just stick with the horses.' And yeah, you can say that, but that isn't the way the world works."

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- George Lucas, who has used AI in films for a quarter

century, on the use of AI

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Best Practice

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• Look closely at your freelance contracts

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• Any AI restrictions?

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• If it has none in the contract, ask the editor

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• Also: Image, video, audio restrictions, AI use with data, etc.

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Generative AI Breakdown

Getting Started With AI: The Process

Best Practices: Human-Centric Journalism and Teaching

“Any output from a generative AI tool should be treated as unvetted source material. AP staff must apply their editorial judgment and AP’s sourcing standards when considering any information for publication.” �

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– Associated Press Guidelines

and the 80/20 rule

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How AP Uses AI

• Aimee Rinehart, program manager for the Associated Press Local News AI Initiative�
• Uses the “80/20 rule”�
• 80: Up to 80 percent of a process can be automated�
• 20: The other 20 percent (at least) requires human interaction: editing, fact-check, edit code, etc.�
• Tell audience that something is partially AI generated if it’s published

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Fear Not

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“But staff and students will be lacking in skills if AI does all of the work.”

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• But they’re gaining new skills: writing prompts, fact-checking, quality control, etc.�
• They still need to know how to write/edit a headline, check AP style mistakes AI makes, etc.�
• Makes them more efficient and can do other things�
• Think of the calculator’s impact on math …

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AI: A Journalist’s Approach

• Think of AI as making suggestions: You can accept or reject them the same way you would grammar check or spell check.
• AI should work for you, not vice-versa.�
• For example, use ChatGPT or Quillbot to take a confusing paragraph and prompt it to “please clarify this text.” The response sometimes clears up the author’s intended meaning.�
• You MUST fact-check any AI-generated content for plagiarism, falsehoods, outdated information, biased information and made-up information.

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Ways Reporters Can Use AI NOW

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• Generate story ideas

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• Interview questions�
• Transcribe audio (edit on back-end)

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• Foreign language translations (double-check)�

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• Help with writing social media posts and finding hashtags and viral hooks (edit closely)�
• This is done by loading your story into an LLM like ChatGPT and having your privacy settings on

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• Assigning AI a role (data journalist) and recommending research links (Perplexity is good for this

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Which AI Tool Do I Use?

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This can vary by task, and new products are coming on the market daily. But here are some broad categories for matching tools to tasks:

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- Editing tasks -> ChatGPT’s Headline Hero, Hemingway, Quillbot�

- Analyze long PDFs -> Claude, Google Pinpoint or ChatPDF.com�

- Long context tasks -> Claude �

- Harder reasoning tasks -> ChatGPT-4o�

- Data analysis -> Data Analyst in ChatGPT 4, Julius.ai�

- Academic tasks + Internet -> Bing, ScholarAI ChatGPT customGPT, Google Scholar�

- Coding -> Several on the Journalist’s Toolbox coding page�

- Image analysis, Internet tasks and basic search -> Gemini�

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Tools: LLMs

• ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google Gemini, Microsoft Co-Pilot among others�
• Can generate good data practices requests, properly citing state laws, rough template of a FOIA letter and sometimes include PIO and contact info.�
• Good for building invoices, templates,etc. Avoid moving personal/financial info. in them�
• Great at technical development and troubleshooting�
• Good success with developing interview questions�
• Most can do solid editing | ask it to list changes in bullet points�
• Key: Assign it a role: “You are a freelance reporter for a New York City financial magazine and …

AI and Journalism

It can do many things for us, but at what cost?

AI Tools: The Bad

• Makes it easier to create misinformation and disinformation�
• AI-driven content farms�
• Easier to create fake illustrations and videos with text-to-video and text-to-image tools�
• Harder to fact-check those images and videos, though AI tools in Google Images and other tools can help�
• Easy to make mistakes with it, misuse, vague on image copyright law (in courts)�
• Biases: Gender, race, etc.�
• Where is my AI data going? (more to come)

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AI Tools: The Bad

• Sports Illustrated used a content farm to produce AI-driven sports stories�
• The content farm also produced fake author bios and used an archive of AI-created fake mugshots on the bio pages�
• Source: Futurism

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Generative AI: Writing Issues

• Don’t ask it to write about sensitive subjects, such as a homicide or an obituary�
• Read anything it generates closely�
• Microsoft badly mishandled AI on this story on the death of former NBA player Brandon Hunter

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Disclosing AI Use to Audience

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• When do you tell readers you used AI to produce something?

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• Do you tell readers/audience that you spell-checked or grammar-checked something?

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• Policies vary by organization or publication�
• Ethics guidelines/best practices from SPJ, NPPA, PRSA, TrustingNews.org, etc. �

*-Mainebiz explained AI-generated Jimmy Stewart on inside cover (above)

Disclosing AI Use to Audience

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• If you disclose, put it in an editor’s note at the start or a footnote at the end of the story

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• AI images or video should ALWAYS be labeled as illustrations produced with AI (right)�
• Image credit in Naomi Delkamiller’s LinkedIn post credits software and labels her “art direction”

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How AI Is Evolving …

• On the left is a MidJourney-produced image in August 2022�
• On the right, August 2023 with the same prompt

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How AI Is Evolving …

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MidJourney version 1, Feb. 2022

How AI Is Evolving …

MidJourney version 2, April 12, 2022

How AI Is Evolving …

MidJourney version 3, July 15, 2022

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How AI Is Evolving …

MidJourney version 4, Nov. 5, 2022

How AI Is Evolving …

MidJourney version 5, March 5, 2023

How AI Is Evolving …

MidJourney version 5.1, June 22, 2023

How AI Is Evolving …

MidJourney version 6, Dec. 21, 2023

AI and Copyright

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Source: Alicia Calzada, NPPA

Getting Started: Where Copyright Stands

• Note that several lawsuits have been filed that will challenge copyright and intellectual property with AI (see next slide). But for now …�
• The U.S. Copyright Office says that any work must be human-made to be copyrightable.
• This means that you cannot copyright AI-generated work.
• Upheld in August by a federal court judge | Politico�
• March 15, 2023: The Copyright Office says works created with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) may be copyrightable, provided the work involves sufficient human authorship.
• Works created by AI without human intervention or involvement still cannot be copyrighted.

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Getting Started: Copyright Lawsuits to Watch

Note that several lawsuits have been filed that will challenge copyright and intellectual property with AI:

• NY Times suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright and intellectual property�
• Sarah Silverman suing OpenAI and Meta for copyright infringement on her work. �
• Getty Images suing Stability.ai over image use. Alleges Stability stole 12 million Getty images to train its platform
• Media conglomerate News Corp-owned publishers have sued Perplexity, claiming that the startup engages in a "massive amount of illegal copying" of their copyrighted work

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Getting Started: Copyright Lawsuits to Watch

Major record labels, represented by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), have filed copyright infringement lawsuits against Suno and Udio for allegedly using unlicensed sound recordings to train their AI models for music generation.

• Udio (which raised $10M in April) is behind the viral AI-generated song "BBL Drizzy," which gained attention during the Kendrick Lamar and Drake feud.�
• RIAA CEO Mitch Glazier: Lawsuits are necessary to "reinforce the most basic rules of the road for the responsible, ethical, and lawful development of generative AI systems"�
• In April 2024, over 200 artists signed an open letter calling AI developers and platforms to stop using AI to infringe upon artists' rights.�
• Suit on behalf of Sony, UMG Recordings, Warner Records and others

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Copyright | Fair Use

• Fair use exception to the Copyright Act:�
• Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research. ��Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair.�
• Note that it “tips the balance” – meaning it’s NOT an absolute protection from a copyright infringement. �

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Prompt Library

• Start a list of base prompts that work for you (see sample in our training folder)�
• Consider keeping a prompt library specific to your topics of coverage or organizations that you contribute to

Tools

Perplexity.ai��One of the best Large Language Model/web research tools around��Assign it a role and ask it anything.

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Example prompt: I'm a freelancer and I need 10 online resources for covering AI’s impact on the environment in Oregon. Include links to sources cited

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Example: What measures are being taken to reduce gang-related killings in New York City

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Use it to brainstorm ideas and develop interview questions

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Use the free version as it gives you 5 free Pro searches per day. Pro version is $20 monthly

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Tool

• Summarize.tech

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• Break down a public meeting or panel video into 5 minute increments�
• Play those 5 minutes back to get information/quotes, etc.�
• Improves efficiency�
• Works only with YouTube videos that are closed captioned

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• Note: Don’t cut-and-paste the summaries

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VisualPing.io

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Tracks web page updates and emails you when there’s a change

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Free up to 5 pages to track, then charges

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You control the amount of update space on a page

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Has paid “business” models that can track more sites

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AI Transcription Tools and Ethics Concerns

• Otter.ai�
• Descript�
• Others on the Journalist’s Toolbox transcription tools page�
• A word of caution: Where does your transcription data go? Politico knows

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Tools

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• Navigator by TrollBusters�
• Chatbot powered by Claude�
• Seek advice on dealing with harassment by trolls�
• Trained on TrollBusters material�
• Reacts to your queries with compassion, a human trait

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Tools

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• Notebook LM from Google�
• Free tool. Uploaded content is private�
• Generates podcasts, timelines, FAQs, summaries and more from your content

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Tools

• Track social media trends and find troll accounts on certain issues
• Uses Information Tracker: Track by topic or hashtag to find bot accounts and trends in sharing�
• Founded by Nick Toso, former CNN producer�
• Adding more AI capabilities in the coming month | Preview�
• Tool: https://rolliapp.com/

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• Also find expert sources�
• Free for journalists: Sign up for the “Press Pass” free plan for a year. Use JOURNOAI code to get quicker access

Tools

• Toby�
• Save your browser tabs in groups�
• Interface appears in browser on start page�
• Simply click and open them up�
• Organize by projects, etc.�
• Free tool and only you can see them with log-in

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Tools

Word Tune

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All-in-one editing tool

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Includes a headline writing tool

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Free with paid upgrades (50 percent off for yearly payments)

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Link: https://wordtune.com

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Tools

Google Pinpoint��Load volumes of PDF documents and public records into this secure, private site (use your Gmail log-in)

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Analyze them using AI.

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Good for tracking names and keywords across hundreds or thousands of crime documents.

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Also will extract text from image, transcribe audio and more. All pages are private until you make them public.

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DocumentCloud.org does similar analysis

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Google Earth Measure Tool

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Measure distances on the earth’s surface

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Good for measuring police chases; distances on shootings, etc.

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All images from Earth are rights-free so you can use them in your reporting

Tools

• Julius.ai�
• Analyzes, cleans and visualizes data�
• Work off a series of workflows that you can save and reuse�
• Also plugs in to your Google Sheets�
• Basic, static visualizations

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Tools

• Napkin.ai�
• Text-to-graphic tool; Ask it to build simple charts�
• Load simple datasets and it gives you varieties of chart groups�
• Charts are statics with limited editing tools (swap icons and colors)�
• Fun for experimentation, ideas�
• Freemium account with enterprise plan coming

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Tools

OCCRP Aleph�

• An investigative data platform that helps reporters follow the money. Search across data and documents from previous investigations, official sources, and scraped databases.�
• Good for tracking crime stories and connecting the dots on relationships.

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• Start by trying a search on Vladimir Putin

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Tools

Dataset Search

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Data-focused searches that save time

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Search topics all over the world

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Link: https://datasetsearch.research.google.com/�

Credits

• Joe Amditis, Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University�
• Ezra Eeman, Strategy Director at NPO�
• Tony Elkins, Poynter Institute�
• Alicia Calzada, NPPA�
• Journalist’s Toolbox™ AI�
• Sree Sreenivasan, Digimentors�
• Getty Images�
• Aimee Rinehart, program manager for the Associated Press Local News AI Initiative�
• Sil Hamilton, developer, Knight Open Online Course�
• Ashley Hamer, Descript, blog post: 2023 blog post �
• US Copyright Office | CCIJ | Google

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