The session “The Future of Journalism between Web 3 and the Metaverse,” within the activities of the first day of the Arab Media Forum in its twenty-first session, witnessed conflicting opinions about the impact of technology on the future of Arab journalism and the potential repercussions of the use of artificial intelligence technology on the career opportunities available to workers in the media sector.
He participated in the discussion session Islam Al-Shatnawi, a robotics automation expert, writer and political analyst, Yasser Abdel Aziz, Mohammed Al-Hammadi, President of the Emirates Journalists Association, and Abdo Jadallah, News Director at Sky News, and it was moderated by journalist Suhaib Sharrayer from Sky News Arabia.
At the beginning of the session, Islam Al-Shatnawi stressed that the last five years witnessed a radical change that paved the way for what is called Web 3, which is the next generation of Internet technology, and relies heavily on machine learning, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technology, and aims to create open websites and web applications that provide an improved understanding of data.
He pointed out that Web 3 will contribute to solving all the problems that the Internet suffers from in its current state, as it will include all artificial intelligence algorithms, which will make the Internet more connected to our lives.
Al-Shatnawi considered that there will not be a process of replacing media jobs in favor of technological techniques and tools at the present time, but rather there will be integration, but the percentage of replacement will gradually change.
Abdo Ja Dallah spoke about the impact of technology on the media sector, pointing out that over the past decades, modern digital media technology has not caused a negative impact on any media outlet, indicating that technology is not an “opponent” for those working in media work, but rather that experience It proved that workers are the basis for technological development.
He said, “We at Sky News Arabia are preparing for the digital transformation phase by focusing on new technical tools to improve the quality of content and speed up and facilitate work, not for the purpose of replacement.”
Meanwhile, Mohammed Al Hammadi said that media professionals and journalists should be concerned if they are unable to keep up with the technological development that the media arena is currently witnessing in all its sectors, noting that the media is witnessing a noticeable shift towards using social media platforms, given the tremendous technological progress that the world is witnessing. Which represents a huge burden on the various media outlets to be more rapid and accurate in conveying information.
For his part, Yasser Abdel Aziz believed that the successive technological development would negatively affect workers in the media sector, anticipating a decline in the job opportunities available in the field of media, stressing that the “Metaverse”, for example, would become a reality that calls for “horror” due to its ease of use and the low costs required. To own his tools, with the rapid development of this technology, it will not require glasses, but rather just a lens or a chip placed under the eye. Yasser Abdel Aziz considered that the “virtuals,” as he put it, would compete with workers in the media sector over the job opportunities available in the coming years.
The twenty-first session of the Arab Media Forum, held under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, began on Tuesday in Dubai, with the participation of about 3,000 ministers, leaders of media institutions, editors-in-chief of newspapers and digital platforms, and an elite group of senior writers and thinkers. Opinion leaders, media makers and those responsible for it in the region and the world.
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