Artificial intelligence in investigative journalism It’s impossible for Økokrim to investigate all of this without using artificial intelligence themselves,' says Krøvel. The transactions they look at are often part of a bigger chain of transactions. These notifications are often based on artificial intelligence. 'I think they receive between ten and fifteen thousand notifications of suspicious transactions every year. The banking system already uses artificial intelligence to notify Økokrim – the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime. It’s almost impossible for ordinary people to get their heads around it,' says Krøvel. 'These companies’ practices make it unrealistic, if not practically impossible, for most tax authorities to keep up with or understand what is going on. Journalism is useless if you don’t know how you found the answer – Roy Krøvel The tax authorities and journalists may also have to use artificial intelligence to keep up with the practices these companies use. They can do so by using pretty advanced artificial intelligence,' says Krøvel. 'What I realised was that corporate structures are so complex that there can be hundreds of subsidiaries that regularly change their registration, move, and restructure, almost on a weekly basis. Professor Roy Krøvel at the Department of Journalism and Media Studies has also researched the flow of money in the research project Making Transparency Possible, which was what really brought home the importance of incorporating artificial intelligence in investigative journalism. 'AI can quickly identify these patterns, retrieve information, and set it up in tables to make the journalist's work easier,' says Mello. The way the information in the receipts was set up meant that artificial intelligence was a suitable means of sorting the data. These receipts aren’t structured like ordinary text in a news article for example' Mello explains. 'This receipt-like text is normally semi-structured. Machine learning was incredibly useful in that context. Who it came from and where it went,' says researcher Gustavo Mello at OsloMet Artificial Intelligence Lab. 'They had to go through receipts and invoices to trace the money. The leaked documents became searchable on the website for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in New York. Text: Pål Arne Kvalnes | Maria Storvig Normann | Olav-Johan ØyeĪ well-known example of artificial intelligence being used in investigative journalism is commonly called “the Panama Papers leak”.

Panama papers journalist