Bild, the best-selling German tabloid in Europe, is preparing to replace several professionals within its editorial team withartificial intelligence, as announced by the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper. Axel Springer, the editor of Bild, made this choice as part of a cost optimization plan to increase the newspaper's profitability. This plan also includes a reorganization of the regional newspaper sector, with the loss of hundreds of jobs.
Layoffs to save the company?
A source revealed to the German newspaper that there would be at least 200 jobs at risk and that the property would also be thinking of alternative exit solutions to dismissal. With this decision, Bild will position itself as the first major newspaper to undertake a major replacement of human professionals within its editorial team through the use of artificial intelligence systems.
The aim is to improve the result in the German media sector by approx 100 million euro over the next 3 years, which requires a major cost reduction. In fact, the email reads that "unfortunately we also have to separate ourselves from colleagues who carry out tasks that can be replaced by artificial intelligence and/or digital processes, or that can't adapt to this new organization with their current skills”. The email then provides an indication of the roles that will be replaced, stating that there will no longer be functions such as editor-in-chief, layout designer, proofreader, secretarial and photo editor.
The CEO: We are entering a new era of journalism
“Paper is out”, underlined the CEO of the group Mathias Döpfner, trying to justify the decision and explaining that revenues and profits are not everything, but without it the business cannot continue. According to the German manager, the era of paper journalism is over and we have entered the third phase of the "digital only" approach. It's not just about abandoning the use of print, but about embracing a vision of quality journalism totally revolutionary in the digital age.
