The New China Research (NCR), a think tank of the Xinhua News Agency, on Monday released a report on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in news media prior to the opening of the 6th World Media Summit in Urumqi, the capital city of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The report, titled “Responsibility and Mission of News Media in the AI Era,” looked at the pros and cons of AI for global news media.
The report, which has four parts, examines the opportunities and challenges that global media face in the AI era. It also explores the media’s mission while highlighting the current state of understanding and application of AI within the global news media industry.
It was based on extensive interviews with global media organizations, technology companies, and scientific research institutes, as well as multi-language questionnaires to global media outlets.
The report found that the majority of global news media (66%) held a positive view on the impact of generative AI on the industry.
Most respondents (67.6%) had already experienced changes brought about by AI, and more than half (51.2%) of them had begun to implement AI technologies.
Media organizations primarily expected generative AI to enhance the timeliness (74.6%) and productivity (74.4%) of news reporting.
However, they also expressed concerns about the credibility risk brought about by AI, particularly regarding the “distortion and inaccuracy of news clues and materials(76.4%).
Additionally, a significant majority of news media (85.6%) believed that the application of generative AI required better regulation.
Owing to the opportunities and challenges AI presents, the NCR conducted a questionnaire survey in Chinese, English, and French for global news media organizations in 2024, gathering 1,094 valid questionnaires.
Participants from 53 countries and regions, including newspapers, periodicals, broadcasting and television stations, news agencies, websites, and mobile application service providers.
Additionally, the team visited major mainstream media outlets, technology companies, and research institutes around the world to conduct in-depth investigations into the opportunities, challenges, responsibilities, and missions of news media in the AI era.
Based on the research data and interview results, the group conducted a rigorous qualitative and quantitative analysis and, after extensive discussions, produced the report titled “The Responsibility and Mission of News Media in the Era of Artificial Intelligence.”
