AI, news fatigue concerns flagged in global report on media trends

On the use of AI in news, survey finds public wants humans in the driver's seat 'at all times'

-  Anjali Raguraman

Amid rapid development in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), respondents to a survey say they are suspicious of the use of AI in journalism.

In addition to having to grapple with AI, several other key challenges facing the news media in 2024 include news avoidance and fatigue that have reached record levels, the survey highlighted.

According to the Digital News Report published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, which was launched in Asia on June 21, only 36 per cent of those surveyed say they feel comfortable using news made by humans with the help of AI. An even smaller proportion – just 19 per cent – are comfortable using news made mostly by AI with human oversight.

The report cautions newsrooms to tread carefully, given concerns about how publishers experimenting with AI may impact public trust in news.

“As publishers rapidly adopt AI to make their businesses more efficient and to personalise content, our research suggests they need to proceed with caution, as the public generally wants humans in the driving seat at all times,” the report said.

“There is more comfort with the use of AI in behind-the-scenes tasks such as transcription and translation, in supporting rather than replacing journalists,” the report added.

This is the first time the report, produced annually, has taken a detailed look at consumer attitudes towards the use of AI in news. It commissioned surveys on AI in the US, Britain and Mexico alongside a broader survey on news consumption conducted in 47 countries.