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On November 21, 2025, Lyrical Capo and I went to Newsapalooza at Point Park University in Pittsburgh. The theme of Newsapalooza was Artificial Intelligence in the Newsroom. Above is a video of Newsie Nick and Pittsburgh Mayor Elect Corey O’Connor giving the keynote speeches. YouTube would not let me add the keynote address by Natalie Daher of Axios news.
The second video I took at the event was a panel moderated by Erica Mokay of KDKA news. The title of the discussion was AI in the News: Friend or Foe. Predictably, the panel was mixed on the subject. After the panel discussion we played a game where we guessed whether an image was real or AI. I only got about 6 right out of 20.
The next panel was titled Machines vs. Humans: Who Should we Trust? moderated by Andy Sheehan of KDKA TV news. Basically, they focused on the new AI technology uses and on the traditional methods of investigative reporting. In the question-and-answer phase I asked whether artificial should replace real intelligence. They said no.
When I am editing video, I use artificial intelligence to create subtitles. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. I am skeptical of artificial intelligence because it can be used to distort reality. In summary, Newsapalooza did a good job of presenting the issues artificial intelligence in the newsroom.