Shanghai, China - Nov 16, 2017
1. Various of backdrop of 2017 Tencent Media Summit
2. Various of guests speaking on stage, screen showing speakers' words, English translation simultaneously
3. SOUNDBITE (English) David A L Levy, director, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (partially overlaid with shot 4):
"The knowledge that I have about artificial intelligence and journalism is that there's two areas where we call robot journalism can be useful. One is sports reporting, the other is financial reporting. They're both areas where most reporting is quite formulaic, quite straightforward. If you're reporting a companies' financial results, or you're reporting results from a sports match. I think in many many other areas, in most areas of journalism, I don't think it's going to make a difference in the short term, and I don't think journalists should worry unduly about it. Journalists should focus on the areas where journalists add value - in explaining context about things, helping people understand what's happened, why it's happened, what's going to happen next."
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
4. Various of people using computers
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5. Levy speaking on stage
6. Various of screens showing data, news web pages

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7. Various of people using computers, watching videos online

8. Various of guests speaking on stage
9. Screen showing promo video

China's internet giant Tencent displayed the most-discussed artificial intelligence (AI) technology during its annual media summit held in Shanghai last Thursday.

Tencent's latest AI products included a recognition software, a real-time translator, and a robot called Dreamwriter that can even compose basic news reports. While the speakers addressed the audience, Tencent's computers listened to and transcribed every word, and then translated it all into English simultaneously.

By the time the speakers finished, Dreamwriter had already composed a report about the key points of the speeches.

"The knowledge that I have about artificial intelligence and journalism is that there's two areas where we call robot journalism can be useful. One is sports reporting, the other is financial reporting. They're both areas where most reporting is quite formulaic, quite straightforward. If you're reporting a companies' financial results, or you're reporting results from a sports match," said David A L Levy, director of Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

"I think in many many other areas, in most areas of journalism, I don't think it's going to make a difference in the short term, and I don't think journalists should worry unduly about it. Journalists should focus on the areas where journalists add value - in explaining context about things, helping people understand what's happened, why it's happened, what's going to happen next," he added.

Levy also warned that the technology should be used carefully by media outlets to not damage people's trust in media.

Apart from content creation, AI technology is now commonly used in news distribution, as websites recommend to readers stories based on their past reading habits. While this application of AI is now playing a role in many web sites, analysts say humans still have an indispensable part to play in communications.

Some domestic media outlets have already started using AI robots to write selected news reports, including Tencent's new media platform and the Xinhua news agency.

This is the sixth year that Tencent has held a media summit to share information about China's media industry.