In a move that has left some students in disbelief, Tyrone Area High School’s student-run Eagle Eye News class will be cut next school year. 

Principal Chad Packer assembled editors of the Eagle Eye for a meeting last week to break the news.

“Effective in the 2024-25 school year, the stories and media shared by the Eagle Eye News will be produced using Artificial Intelligence,” Packer said. “Through the use of this technology, we will be able to replace the Eagle Eye course with more fundamentally educational credits while still maintaining the school’s internal news source.”

The reasons given for the change are cost savings on teaching staff, the ability to offer students more “academic-oriented” credits, and providing students and the community with news and information in a more timely manner. 

All this will be accomplished, according to Packer, by shifting the Eagle Eye news platform to a new, cutting-edge A.I.-powered platform.

This is a trend that has been impacting news organizations across the globe, at every level.  One major newspaper in the United Kingdom made headlines in December for replacing many of its journalists with ‘A.I.-assisted’ reporters.

In place of the Eagle Eye course, the TASD administration announced that a new AI-based class will be implemented into the school’s 2024-25 curriculum.

This course will replace the current 35-member Eagle Eye staff with just one class of 10-15 students. 

These students will be instructed on how to properly use systems such as ChatGPT to accomplish a plethora of tasks and assignments.

“It’s amazing the quality of journalism you can get by just plugging a few facts or statistics into an A.I. bot,” Packer said. “Plus, it’s a lot faster than the students. I understand that some students might be disappointed, but I am confident that once this change is made, everyone will prefer this model over having humans write stories.”

Immediate discontent came from former adviser Todd Cammarata and his editorial staff.

“I realize that they sometimes miss their deadlines and often take too long to get their stories done, but my students work hard to produce the best content they can for their peers. Taking away this outlet will be absolutely detrimental to Tyrone,” Cammarata said. 

Though Packer took these points into consideration, he said the administration and school board could not be persuaded, highlighting the anticipated benefits of the shift.

“Not only does this allow students to explore more concrete and foundational credits, such as additional mathematics and science courses, but it allows our district to utilize the innovations of modern technology,” added Dean of Students Lucas Rhoades. “A.I. is here and it’s not going away. We should make this change sooner rather than later.”

Students who have scheduled the Eagle Eye News course for next year will receive an email in the coming days to modify their schedules.

“I can’t believe I’m being replaced with A.I. This is bull. I haven’t run the Instagram and TikTok accounts for years just to be replaced by robots,” said former Social Media Manager Logan Rumberger.

The Eagle Eye staff reports such changes with heavy hearts, and the future of the news outlet is uncertain. The question of what journalism may look like in the coming years remains, and the emotions of students have undoubtedly been sturred amidst the announcement.

Those who represent Eagle Eye would like to thank their dedicated audience for the many years of avid interaction across its many media sources.

The humanity within what they have produced is no joke, and they are left feeling like fools in light of this news.