Document details

The Peril and Promise of AI for Journalism

Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions (CSDI) (2024), 13 pp.

CC BY-NC-ND

Institution of author: The University of British Columbia

"This report draws on insights from the workshop, along with recent academic and journalistic publishing. It highlights three major issues: How generative AI can make disinformation campaigns faster, more targeted, and more persuasive. How newsrooms’ adoption of AI tools can lead to inaccuracies and other risks. How AI may threaten the viability of professional journalism, including through automation and content generation that replaces human journalists. In response, journalists are developing investigative practices to expose disinformation campaigns, experimenting with AI tools to make their own work more efficient, and developing ethical guidelines and labour protections to defend professional journalism. Likewise, the news industry, policymakers, and platforms are considering responses that range from workforce training to newsroom innovation to new professional guidelines to AI regulation. Through this report, CSDI hopes to contribute to important public conversations about the impact of new technologies on journalism and our information environments. Ultimately, the responses developed by journalists, policymakers, technologists, and citizens will shape our efforts to understand the world and act as democratic citizens." (Abstract)
Key Issue #1: How Does AI “Supercharge” Disinformation? 5
Key Issue #2: Can journalists responsibly use new AI tools? 7
Key Issue #3: Does AI threaten the viability of journalism? 10
Recommendations, 12