Journalists in Nairobi-based Catholic Media Houses in Artificial Intelligence Training to “remain relevant, competitive”

He called upon Catholic journalists to be vigilant while engaging AI tools, and added, “Whatever you generate, whatever you do, make sure that you are in charge; you like the final product, and you own it and have a footprint around it.”

Credit: ACI Africa

Asked to relate the AI tools and human creativity, including the fears around it, the Kenyan-born SJ member said, “Most of that fear of losing creativity is not founded on experience because, if you work with these tools for a while, you will realize that you are the one still doing the work.”

The tools only help to reduce the time frame of production, he said, adding, “For those of us who have worked with these tools, we have realized that as the user, you still have to create and revise your work. So, journalists still have to exercise a lot of creativity while using these AI tools.”

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The Nairobi-based Executive Director of the Proposed Hekima University of the Jesuits went on to caution Catholic Journalists against falling “victims of laziness by leaving the technology to do everything for them.”

The one-day training that attracted 33 participants drawn from the 15 Catholic Media houses in Kenya’s Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi drew inspiration from Pope Francis’ message for World Communications Day (WCD) 2024 that was titled, “Artificial Intelligence and the Wisdom of the Heart: Towards a Fully Human Communication”.

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Some of the AI tools discussed included ChatGPT, Invideo, videoscribe, Pinetools, Turboscribe, and capcut.

Also speaking to ACI Africa, the chairperson of the Catholic media houses in Nairobi Archdiocese, Virginia Kabugu, said the training was meant to equip Catholic journalists with skills on engaging AI tools “in their work to evangelize and to tell stories of hope.”

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“The turnout was good, and we appreciate the effort from all the Catholic media in Nairobi for sending their representatives. We hope this will improve our work, positively impacting us as Catholic media practitioners,” Mrs. Kabugu said.

The Assistant Editor at Bayard Publications, one of the 15 Catholic media entities operating in Nairobi Archdiocese, said that Catholic journalists cannot avoid AI because the technology is “there to stay” and will keep advancing.

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“Let the Catholic media practitioners know that AI is here to stay—it is here with us—and the best thing is to understand how it works so that you may choose whether to use it. You have to understand how to use it positively,” she said.

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The various Catholic media houses operational in the Nairobi Archdiocese include Paulines Publications Africa, the National Mirror, the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops Communications (KCCB), the Archdiocese of Nairobi, the New People Media Centre, and the Messenger of Mary Immaculate.

Others are Radio Maria Nairobi, the Bosco Eastern Africa Multimedia Services (BEAMS), the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa(AMECEA), The Seed magazine, Loyola Center for Media and Communications, Radio Waumini, Capuchin TV, and the Association for Catholic Information in Africa (ACI Africa).

Credit: ACI Africa

Fr. Christopher Siluembe, the Director of the New People Media Center of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MCCJ) lauded the training as having been successful and achieving its goal of enlightening Catholic Journalists on AI as part of the advancements in technology.

“About today’s workshop, I think it has been very fruitful. On my part, it has made me realize how rich AI is concerning our work. As we work in the media for evangelization, I think we need AI tools to make our work more effective and accessible to the people,” Fr. Silembe said.

The Nairobi-based Zambian MCCJ member added, “Given that Africa has youths as part of its larger population, we need to engage more with AI to reach them. It was a successful workshop, and I hope we will continue to have more like this.”

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On her part, Floise Mokuna, a presenter at Nairobi-based Radio Maria, said that she had benefited from the training and that it was her first time to hear about ChatGPT tool.

Ms Mokuna said, “I have learned how to edit, as journalism requires one to know many things, including editing and writing, which are all skills we have learned today.”

“I have also learned about ChatGPT, which I heard about for the first time today. When I return to the office after this training, I will try to write a script using ChatGPT,” she told ACI Africa on August 7.