Angie Mentink has been recovering from a debilitating stroke but has returned to the broadcast booth after a tough rehab. She was called out by a Twitter poster for asking AI help to get some post game interview questions. She did respond with her own post, chuckling a bit. Scroll for full story.
"Currently asking AI how to handle going viral for using AI. 😅
In all seriousness, I'm late to the AI party. Earlier this season I experimented with AI to see if it had any questions to add to my list for my postgame coverage. We've come a long way from pen and paper when I started in 1997.
Always learning."
Here's the X post that started the trouble from a Jim Root. Who? Hmmm:
"Seattle Mariners broadcaster Angie Mentink was caught asking AI for “Good questions after a tough loss in baseball”…"
She's getting lots of support for sure on social.
Colleague Brad Adam responded:
Here’s my response, and I asked AI for help because I use the tools available to me-
Brad Adam: " That person who posted the video of Angie knows nothing about her, what it takes to do her job, or what she is going through. This situation is hurtful and unnecessary. Be better."
Looks like the original story was deleted once Angie's condition became known to Barstool Sports and was unfortunately reposted by others.
" We deleted a prior post of a viral video making light of a reporter seemingly using AI to come up with a question at press conference. At the time of posting we didn’t realize this reporter was recovering from a stroke. In light of that we decided to delete it."
Thank you.
I am no fan of AI, but I have no problem with what Angie did here. This is one instance where AI could be a good thing for journalists, by helping them think of questions to ask that they might not have thought of on their own. That could lead to better coverage with more depth, or, in this case, a better postgame interview.
ReplyDeleteGood on Barstool for manning up and admitting their mistake. Because it was their initial reposting which set off all this yesterday and to preface my comments, I have never been more EMBARRASSED to be a Mariners fan than what I witnessed on that social media platform yesterday. Why Angie Mentink is as polarizing to this fanbase as she is I have no idea. But IDC is 100% correct and this is exactly what I thought the more I was thinking about this yesterday. And for someone like her who I don't believe, correct me if I am wrong everyone, had a communications/newspaper background before becoming an M's television analyst many years ago, having AI can be a tremendous resource in the event she has to cover something like what did happen on Wednesday night (that offending X post was posted following that game FYI Wayne) with the Mariners' loss to the Padres. All she is trying to do is trying to do her job the best she can and be prepared for any situation that comes up. And I am also someone who is not a fan of AI. But it's here so if it can be of use you might as well use it.
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