The use of artificial intelligence across various sectors is rapidly increasing, raising questions about ethics, responsible implementation, and its impact on human rights. A recent study titled ‘“How Do Journalists Feel About AI?” explores the emotional effects of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the journalism industry, where values such as truthfulness, transparency, and trust are central.
This research offers a humanistic perspective on AI, highlighting journalists’ feelings and their own experiences with AI in their work.
“Honestly, I’m not a very technological person,” says researcher Carolina Escudero, PhD and Post-Doctoral fellow in Social Psychology, Associate Professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (Autonomous University of Barcelona), and collaborator in scientific research with faculty at the Universidad Europea del Atlántico (European University of the Atlantic, UNEATLANTICO), an institution belonging to the FUNIBER university network: “It’s not that I have the skills to design or even plan an application and these issues, but what motivated me was a concern about the dehumanization of many professions, journalism being the main one.”
This research combines focus group methodologies, interviews, and surveys with journalists in seven very diverse countries to examine the feelings triggered by the irruption of AI. It is based on the concept of emotional management at work and how journalists feel about changes in their professional environments.
Escudero adds: “Many people in many countries tend to accept an oppressive situation in order to keep a job, whether because of age or the country’s economic issue.”
Conclusions of the study
The study concluded that a sense of reassurance predominates in countries where journalists receive more training on AI. On the other hand, rejection is more common in countries where fewer journalists have training in this field. Overall, the study shows a tendency to feel greater security with more knowledge, while ignorance causes more fear.
Escudero stresses that the research does not clearly conclude that training itself improves attitudes toward AI, but rather examines what type of education has the greatest impact on worker’s sense of security. “We can’t divide it into whether it’s good or bad, it cannot be a binary view,” she says: “The study, based on the results obtained, also promotes dialogue between those who receive training and those who do not, and calls for a change in how AI is introduced in the media.”
Future research on artificial intelligence
Drawing on theory of liberating education by Brazilian pedagogue Paulo Freire, Escudero argues that dialogue is essential to incorporating AI into journalism. This study is just the beginning of a longer dialogue: next October the researcher will launch a new book with more interviews with publishers to delve deeper into the topic of emotional management and its important role in relation to AI.
There is much more to investigate about the relationship between AI and journalism, but this study begins the conversation about humanization, responsible use, and how education can free workers from fear or rejection of technological changes in their field.
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