A new study has found that consumers can respond favorably to integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into the news production process as long as humans remain in the lead. The findings by Sylvia Chan-Olmsted, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) Media Production, Management, and Technology professor and director of Consumer Media Research, and Helmut Schmidt University doctoral student Steffen Heim were featured in “Consumer Trust in AI-Human News Collaborative Continuum: Preferences and Influencing Factors by News Production Phases” published in Journalism and Media on Sept. 11.

The authors focused on the analysis of news consumers’ preferred level of AI integration, AI news trust, and AI news usage intentions linked to the application of the technology in the discovery/information-gathering and writing/editing phases.

According to the authors, “By connecting a comprehensive set of factors influencing the perception of news and AI, we approached this gap through structural equation modeling, presenting an overview of consumers’ responses to AI integration into news production processes. Our research showed that while participants generally prefer lower levels of AI integration into both phases of production, news trust and usage intention can even increase as AI enters the production process—as long as humans remain in the lead.”

They add, “While understanding the preferred level of AI integration into the news production process and its implications for consumer trust is beneficial, ultimately, the most relevant information for news media companies is the respective usage intentions of consumers.”

Posted: September 11, 2023
Category: AI at CJC News, College News, Research News, Science Communication News, Trust News
Tagged as: AI News Production, AI News Trust, AI-Human News Collaboration, Media Production Management and Technology, Sylvia Chan-Olmsted