According to a large quantity of baseball media, you're either not allowed or it's too far to criticize a female broadcaster for having AI do her job for her.
On Thursday, social media blew up after a video of Seattle Mariners broadcaster Angie Mentink went viral. The video, taken by a local Mariners fan, who I will not name because he has now gone private on X seemingly because of the relentless backlash he's recieved, showed Mentink preparing for a postgame interview using Gemini, Google's AI tool.
What Mentink typed into the AI text box is what caused the backlash. She asked for"Good questions after a tough loss in baseball."
My first reaction was astonishment. It was hard to believe a sports media professional would be using AI to do their job for them. This wasn't asking AI to summarize, or contribute to an existing question(s). It was blatantly asking AI to formulate questions from scratch when she is hired to have the wherewithal and professionalism to create a line of questioning that elevates the broadcast, even after a "tough loss."
From the minute this post came across Mariners fans' and sports media member's timelines, and was reshared by Barstool in a now deleted post with the caption, "The future of journalism has arrived", they attacked the fan for recording the broadcaster, making that the main issue, while ignoring the clear issue of how reporters should be properly using AI to do their job.
While I'm thrilled to know Mentick has been able to return to her duties after a stroke, I believe that highlights another aspect of this issue that is worth exploring. I'll discuss that in a minute.
Host Alanna Rizzo of the podcast "Foul Territory" coined the fan "Dork of The Week" and claimed that nobody has "the right to take a picture or say whatever the heck they want."
In Rizzo's lengthy diatribe, she repeatedly defended Mentink as someone who "knows ball", which I would simply reply to saying, "If she knows ball, why does she need AI to generate questions for her?" Mentink is in her 30th year of covering the team. She should know the team and how to do her job better than anyone.
Ken Rosenthal, the lead reporter for MLB on FOX, including postseason and World Series coverage over the last two decades now, and maybe best known for knocking over and staring down the Milwaukee Brewers team photographer during a postgame interview celebration, called the actions of the fan, "ridiculous."
"What she should be judged on is what she does on camera, not what she does sitting in a camera well getting ready to do a postgame interview," Rosenthal added.
Source: The Latest & Most Breaking News With OutKick
