What news audiences can teach journalists about artificial intelligence

Generative artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming journalism, making audience expectations about its use more critical than ever. Newsrooms must engage with these expectations to maintain trust and relevance.

The Essential Role of AI Ethics Policies

Despite AI's growing integration into journalistic tools, many news organizations, especially smaller ones, still lack formal ethics policies. This oversight is problematic; AI is often embedded in software journalists use, and crowdsourced content can be republished without verifying its AI origins. Implementing clear AI ethics policies is crucial for all newsrooms, benefiting both staff guidance and audience trust.

Audience Expectations: Transparency, Human Oversight, and Caution

Our research reveals that most news audiences are largely unaware of news organizations' AI policies. Yet, a remarkable 98% consider such policies important, demanding simplicity and clarity. They prefer concise, bullet-pointed outlines over lengthy legalistic texts.

Transparency is paramount. Audiences expect AI use notices at the very beginning of content, consistently placed and directly on the content itself, not merely adjacent. Many desire a declaration of the proportion of human- versus computer-generated material. A universal AI symbol and "on-demand" explanations (like hover-over text) were also suggested for user convenience.

Crucially, human oversight is non-negotiable. Audiences expect journalists to closely manage AI implementations, particularly verifying AI-generated content before publication. About a fifth advocate for minimal AI use, driven by concerns about labor displacement, cheap content production, and potential quality degradation. Broader ethical worries include AI biases, copyright, privacy, and environmental impact. Audiences also anticipate policies will adapt as technology and cultural norms evolve.

Nuanced Preferences: Specificity and Industry-Wide Standards

Beyond general demands, audiences expressed nuanced preferences. They favored mode-specific guidelines (e.g., how AI can or cannot be used for headlines versus image generation) over broad principles. Some even suggested industry-wide AI policies to simplify tracking across multiple news sources, indicating fatigue with inconsistent approaches.

Concerns were voiced about AI exacerbating clickbait and sensationalism. Audiences strongly believe journalists should not outsource critical thinking to AI or allow it to unduly influence their judgment. Suggestions included mandatory AI training for journalists, penalties for misuse, using AI to check for bias, and topic-specific guidelines, especially avoiding AI in high-stakes areas like election coverage.

Understanding Comfort Levels: Where AI Fits

Audience comfort with AI varies significantly by application. Generally, they are more comfortable with AI for behind-the-scenes processes than for creating public-facing content. For instance, a virtual news presenter generated by AI elicited strong discomfort, whereas using AI for 3D models or color palettes was much more acceptable. Audiences were also more at ease with AI depicting the distant past or future than the present, and preferred non-photorealistic AI illustrations over photorealistic ones. Comfort increased when AI tools mirrored familiar processes, like generating alt-text or blurring image backgrounds.

These insights highlight the need for newsroom leaders to carefully consider factors like temporality, trust, authenticity, and audience AI literacy when developing policies. Balancing journalistic objectives with audience expectations is key.

Actionable Advice for Newsrooms:

• Prioritize Transparency: Clearly label and explain AI use on content, ensuring consistency.
• Ensure Human Control: Emphasize human oversight and verification of all AI outputs.
• Craft Specific Policies: Develop mode- or topic-specific guidelines where appropriate, beyond generic principles.
• Address Ethical Concerns: Proactively manage risks related to labor, bias, copyright, and content quality.
• Understand Audience Comfort: Tailor AI adoption to audience preferences, leaning towards behind-the-scenes or less literal applications first.
• Engage & Adapt: Maintain an ongoing dialogue with audiences and be prepared to evolve policies as AI technology and societal perceptions shift.

Ultimately, fostering trust in an AI-driven media landscape demands genuine transparency, robust ethical frameworks, and a steadfast commitment to human-centric journalism.