The world’s largest news brands are already experimenting with AI in their content. But most readers aren’t impressed. In fact, the majority say they want AI as far away from real reporting as possible.
Nearly half of American participants in a new survey conducted by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and the University of Minnesota said they don’t want AI-generated news reported to them. Another 20% think that news organizations shouldn’t be using the technology at all.
As Poynter helpfully points out, dozens of America’s most well-known newsrooms already use generative AI to help readers pick restaurants, learn more about political candidates, and dive deeper into articles. But it turns out that people simply don’t want it.
More than 1,100 people were asked about their media consumption and literacy levels before answering questions about their personal AI use and their views on its use in journalism.
When asked if they had any interest in “tools that allow readers to get information by chatting with a virtual assistant or digital chatbot that delivers AI-generated answers from previously published reporting,” 49% said they had no interest at all.
Another 39% said they would only use such a tool “if editors verified information in the answers to ensure it accurately represented the facts.”
Readers also simply don’t trust organizations using AI to churn out articles, and more than half of the survey’s respondents think that publishers are already using generative AI to create images and articles.
Of the most engaged news consumers – those with high levels of news literacy – more than 90% want disclosures for AI-generated text and photo editing.
“Anybody really like using a chatbot? No. I can’t stand it. So, guess what? Your users feel like that, too,”
Meredith Broussard.
“The data suggests if you build it, do not expect overwhelming demand for it,” said Benjamin Toff, associate professor at the Hubbard School of Journalism and director of the Minnesota Journalism Center.
Data journalist Meredith Broussard, author of “More Than a Glitch: Confronting Race, Gender, and Ability Bias in Tech,” was more direct during her keynote speech at the Summit on AI, Ethics, and Journalism, held in New York City in April.
“Anybody really like using a chatbot? No. I can’t stand it. So, guess what? Your users feel like that, too,” said Broussard.
“They’re not excited about interacting with a chatbot on your site.”
The number of Americans who believe AI does more harm than good has been increasing lately, according to a 2024 Gallup poll. Naturally, the percentage of Americans who don’t want AI writing our news is also growing.
Of course, there are caveats. For example, most people haven’t actually experienced a news-based AI product – just customer service bots.
The study revealed that even among Americans aged 18 to 29, nearly half haven’t used or heard of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. And if they have, there’s a clear disconnect between what journalists are actually doing with these tools and what audiences think they’re using them for.
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