Exploring the Integration of AI into Journalistic Pre-Professional Workflows and Its Impact on Co-Intelligence - Project Summary

This project explores how pre-professional journalists integrate AI into workflows, assessing its impact on ethics, creativity, and productivity.

This research examines the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into the workflows of pre-professional journalists and explores its implications for journalistic ethics. With a focus on human-AI employment, the study seeks to understand how AI tools are perceived, adopted, and used by student journalists. Participants from a collegiate student newspaper will engage in an survey to first better understand the newsroom attitudes and culture around AI knowledge and engagement. The study will analyze how varying levels of familiarity with AI and general technology savviness influence the integration of AI into journalistic workflows, and how these factors affect the perceived quality and ethics of the resulting work.

Following that, a small subsection of students will participate in a one-hour observational think-aloud session. During these sessions, participants will verbalize their cognitive processes and decision-making while using AI tools to assist with writing tasks. This approach will capture not only the practical application of AI but also the ethical considerations that arise as journalists interact with these technologies.

By comparing AI-assisted writing to traditional writing methods, the research will assess the cognitive impact of AI and explore its potential as an augmentation tool, rather than a replacement for human journalists.

Ultimately, the research aims to provide insights into the sustainable, ethical implementation of AI in newsrooms, offering guidelines that preserve journalistic integrity while enhancing productivity and creativity. These findings will contribute to the broader conversation on the evolving relationship between AI and journalism, helping to shape future best practices for ethical AI adoption in the field.