Anyone Bashing The Mariners Reporter For Using AI To Help Generate Interview Questions Needs To Get A Life
Steph Chambers. Getty Images.I really fucking hate the internet sometimes.
Last night, longtime Seattle Mariners reporter Angie Mentink was caught using Google Gemini to formulate questions for her postgame interview. And when I say she was caught, I mean some loser asshole decided to film her phone screen and post it on social without her knowing.
Some of you might disagree with me here, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with her doing this. I know a lot of people hate AI. I know a lot of people view it as a lazy shortcut to avoid doing your job. But it's also a tool that can be used to expand your imagination and unlock new ideas. Over the course of a 162-game season, I don't think it's a problem for a reporter to rely on technology a little bit here and there to come up with fresh, new material. Especially if the intent is to ask the best possible questions and get the best possible answers. That's just using every tool available to you to succeed in your role.
And I say this as someone who never uses AI, even though I know there are some people writing on this blog who do. It's just not my thing, but I'll never look down on someone who utilizes it in a resourceful, ethical way. In this case, it's not like Mentink was using this to completely get out of doing her job.
She still had to do the live hit after the game and talk to the players. That's not being done by a robot. That's her having to be good on camera, which is what she's proven to be good at for the past 30 years. She's been a reporter and host for Mariners broadcasts since 1997, so I think we can cut her some slack here, guys.
Not to mention, she also had a fucking stroke in the offseason. Not to guilt trip anybody or anything, but it's WILDLY impressive that she's already back in the mix after going through that recovery process.
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Unfortunately for her, though, this video came at the worst possible time. When the piranhas are already out because of the Diana Russini drama, and now every scumbag on Twitter -- whenever they get the chance -- is just trying to rip the credibility of women reporters everywhere. I, for one, was a dues-paying member of the Association for Women in Sports Media back in the day, and I will not tolerate it.
Sidenote: Can we please stop recording people's phone screens in public??? That's private shit. I disagree with filming people without their consent just in general, but to take it a step further and record their phone screens, too, is fucking ridiculous.
I even sympathized with Stephen A. Smith a little bit when he was caught playing solitaire in the NBA Finals. He shouldn't have been doing that by any means, but fans also shouldn't be eavesdropping on other people's phones and then blasting it all over social media.
That even applies to when other fans are sexting their sidepieces during sporting events, which somehow happens all the time. I'd say about once a month, I'm seeing a video of old men texting some some freaky shit up in the nosebleeds, and that's gotta stop. Let people be horny in peace.
Angie Mentink wasn't playing solitaire. She definitely wasn't sexting. She was just covering all the bases to do her job to the best of her ability. I apologize for a long rant over such a short video, but it had me flat-out pissed this morning. Be better, internet.