- Trumped - 25th September 2026
- Travel ban lifted - 25th September 2026
- Lookie-likies… - 24th September 2026
The highly-publicised summit between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Donald Trump (in which some commentators say the American president may have been bested), where fierce competition over Artificial Intelligence (AI) was high on the agenda, puts centre stage how advances in technology have made virtually redundant the media machines used by our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry, when he started in journalism 43 years ago.
It seems almost incredible looking back.
When I started in journalism in 1983 ‘copy’ was on paper, with the story typed up on a typewriter, then folded in half and placed in a wire basket on the News Editor’s (NE) desk.
Next to me was the ‘typewriter graveyard’, consisting of several desks pushed together, with machines piled on top waiting to be repaired!
Now none of this happens, and stories are processed digitally, with them checked (sometimes) by the NE (although often not called that now), in a list of items on a computer.
But if anything the pace of change is getting faster today, NOT slowing down, with Artificial Intelligence (AI) now leading the charge.
i would like to think that the kind of investigative journalism I undertake is relatively safe, because it relies on secret recordings, and meeting contacts who can reveal details of what is happening inside organisations.
Who knows though?
If I were still in news, however, I would be extremely worried because many of the bog-standard stories can be written by AI.
For me (perhaps bizarrely), the spotlight has been thrown on all of this by the much-vaunted summit between the Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, because a lot of their discussions seemed to have been about AI, and how to deal with the intense rivalry between the two countries over it.
Perhaps symbolising this, last night’s state banquet was attended by Sam Altman who has been the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of OpenAI since 2019.
The United States of America (USA) has been ahead in AI for years, but China is coming up fast, and Mr Trump wants to ensure the USA wins the race.
Mr Xi’s proposals for lessening tensions – which also included the invitation of 100,000 young Americans to visit China on student exchanges – come amid this period of competition, with each side imposing tariffs on the other
His counterpart Mr Trump has placed strict export controls on microchips, semiconductors, software and chip-making equipment, in a bid to slow China’s development.
There have been a lot of meaningless warm words, when really it is all about tensions over AI, trade generally, and Taiwan.
For example, Mr Xi has declared: “We should strengthen communication. China and the United States are different in national conditions, but through candid, in-depth and continued dialogue, our two countries can understand each other better, seek common ground while shelving differences, and build up mutual trust” .
“We should coexist in peace. China and the United States, as two major countries, stand to gain from cooperation and will both lose in confrontation. Our two militaries should maintain regular dialog and improve mechanisms for crisis communication and prevention”.
For his part, Mr Trump has proclaimed that he had forged “a truly great friendship” with Mr Xi, adding: “President Xi and I have made tremendous strides on the issues facing our two countries”.
But it’s not all ‘truly great’ – especially for journalists!
The memories of Phil’s decades-long award-winning career in journalism as he was gripped by the rare disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’ (which was NOT written by AI!). Order it now!
Soon on The Eye – ‘More Artificial Information (AI) part one’, where we go into more detail about this incredible rate of technological change.
