WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today the Center for News, Technology & Innovation (CNTI) released the first briefing from its newly launched Global AI & Journalism Research Working Group, aimed at synthesizing what international research indicates about issues at the intersection of AI and journalism — as well as where there are gaps and inconsistencies.

This first briefing focuses on recurring insights about communication between journalists and their audiences around AI, which can inform how newsrooms report on, use and educate their audiences about the growing use of this technology. It draws upon more than 80 studies that focus on at least 40 countries, with input from 15 working group members. The research consistently found:

• There is a dearth of public understanding about not only AI in news but also journalists’ methods and values more broadly. This is important to address before successful communication about uses of AI itself can be realized.
• There is an increasing consensus that the public needs more knowledge about the different types of AI systems, what the systems can and can’t do, and how to critically evaluate their output. Journalism has long played an essential role in helping people learn about new technologies — with AI no exception.
• To cover AI systems effectively, newsrooms might consider developing a deeper understanding of the technology itself and the wide range of stakeholders involved.
• AI systems have disrupted long-held assumptions about “how technology works” because these systems often have inconsistent outputs, and users may not even be aware when they’re interacting with them. 
• When it comes specifically to labels for AI use in journalism, there is often a disconnect between what the public says it wants and how it responds to actual labels. While more research is warranted, our working group noted that explaining how AI was used, rather than a simple label, can carry more meaning.
• It would be valuable for news producers to collaborate and build consensus around how to best operationalize shared values such as transparency and verification.

“Following our CNTI/Thomson Foundation AI disclosure meeting in Brussels last year, it became clear that for existing research to be a helpful for journalists working with or covering AI, the research community needed to do a better job of making sense of the wide range of emerging information related to AI and news,”  said CNTI Executive Director Amy Mitchell. “Audience trust, relevance and understanding must be at the core of these discussions, so it was a natural first area of exploration in building a broader consensus for AI in the news industry.”

CNTI also updated its “Artificial Intelligence in Journalism” issue primer which sets the stage for exploring how newsrooms can enable the benefits and manage the harms of AI with their work.

The full Global AI & Journalism Research Working Group briefing is available here, and other journalists and experts are encouraged to contact CNTI to join these discussions. The Working Group will continue its research on AI and journalism and will produce three to four more briefings over the next year.

“A lot of high-profile research is being done on English-speaking media in relatively wealthy countries, but we should not presume that those findings can be applied globally,” said CNTI Senior Research Manager Jay Barchas-Lichtenstein. “The working group includes representation from a broad set of countries, which means this briefing shines a light on cultural and institutional differences so that we can take a broad, international view of applying AI concepts to journalism.”

About the Center for News, Technology & Innovation: CNTI is an independent global policy research center that seeks to encourage independent, sustainable media, maintain an open internet and foster informed public policy conversations. CNTI’s cross-industry convenings espouse evidence-based, thoughtful but challenging conversations about the issue at hand, with an eye toward feasible steps forward. The Center for News, Technology & Innovation is a project of the Foundation for Technology, News & Public Affairs. Learn more at https://cnti.org/.

Contact: info@cnti.org