Over the past decade, the news media have scaled back coverage and axed jobs as advertisers have switched their media buys to digital platforms like Google and Facebook.
Now a Filipino reporter has created an artificial intelligence tool named COA Beat Assistant to analyze audit reports.
As this technology improves, it will give reporters what they lack today – the time to mine your complex documents, financial statements, legal documents, environmental impact assessments, public policy texts, and procurement documents.
The results will be more reliable than a generic AI search, which suffers from GIGO (garbage in, garbage out). Their questions will become evidence-based. Your answers will matter.
In boosting investigative capability, the tool will increase your reputational risks. Reporters won’t take time to read audits unless they expect to create consequential coverage.
As the Canadian government was just reminded, an audit can be the gift that keeps giving.
I think the COA Beat Assistant could be a game-changer for media-relations professionals and spokespersons. Preparation will matter.