The prevailing narrative around AI in journalism frames automation as suitable mainly for “grunt work” – repetitive, low-stakes newsroom tasks. Yet, two award-shortlisted IBC2025 technical papers challenge this assumption in practice. Izzy Benham investigates.
The “AI for grunt work” assumption extends beyond just workplace conversation; It is also reflected in resource allocation strategy and audience responses to AI in the news. This year, 93% of publishers were found to use AI for workflow automation, with only 4-5% focused on fact-checking or verification. Equally, a Reuters report noted that only 36% of readers are comfortable with AI-produced news, with trust dropping further on sensitive topics like politics, crime and local reporting.
Together, these trends demonstrate the prevalence of the assumption amongst professionals and audiences alike. This framing can hardly be construed as innocuous when it dictates what tasks are targeted, how pilots are resourced, and where organisations are placing their bets. Additionally, when looking closely at different applications of AI in the newsroom, the accuracy of this assumption is not entirely clear...
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