What happens when AI overtakes the role of human journalists?

The HBS hosts are joined this week by Dr. Andrea Guzman, an expert in human-machine communication studies, to chat about the changing landscape of journalism in the age of artificial intelligence, where AI is not just a tool, but an active participant in content creation and distribution. We examine how journalism has historically adapted to new technologies, from print and radio to the digital age, and how those differ (or don’t) from the new challenges it faces with AI’s involvement in shaping the media.

Like many 21st C. news consumers, we’re concerned with both the unique challenges and the opportunities AI presents, especially as it transitions from being a mere medium to an active “messenger.” Dr. Guzman addresses pressing questions about whether journalism is in crisis due to AI, the ethical implications of using AI in news production, and the future landscape for journalists and news consumers. How will human journalists navigate these changes while upholding journalism’s (alleged) commitment to truth and accountability? Will AI will mark the end of journalism as we know it or usher in the dawn of a bold new era in media?

In this episode, we discuss the following texts/thinkers/ideas/etc.:

• The “University of Metaphysics”
• Stephan Khan, “Do you trust AI to write the news? It already is– and not without issues” (2023)
• Center for Social Media and Politics, “People Trust Themselves More Than They Trust the News. They Shouldn’t.” (2024)
• Steffen Heim and Sylvia Cham-Olstead, et al, “Consumer Trust in AI-Human News Collaborative Continuum: Preferences and and Influencing Factors by News Production Phases” (2023). NB: This article is pay-walled, but you can read a summary of its findings here. 
• Matthew Smith, “AI in journalism: how would public trust in the news be affected?” (2024)
• Richard Fletcher and Rasmus Kleis Nielson, “What does the public in six countries think of generative AI in the news?” (2024)
• source credibility
• Michel Foucault, “What is an Author?” (1969)
• The formulaic nature of obituaries
• How to create a fake obituary on TikTok
• AI “hallucinations” explained
• Misinformation vs. disinformation 
• Kathiann Kowalski, “Artificial Intelligence is making it hard to tell truth from fiction” (2024)
• Aaron Wellborn, “ChatGPT and Fake Citations” (2023)
• Andrea Guzman (Ed.), Human-Machine Communication: Rethinking, Technology, and Ourselves (2018)
• Communication Theory
• Byron Reeves and Clifford Nass, The Media Equation: How People Treat Computers, Television, and New Media Like Real People and Places (1996)
• Byron Reeves, Jonathan Steuer, and Ellen R. Tauber, “Computers are Social Actors” (1994). See also Evelian Heyselaar, “The CASA theory no longer applies to desktop computers” (2023)
• Human-Machine Communication journal
• Elizabeth Fetterolf et al, “It’s not her fault: Trust through anthropomorphism among young adult Amazon Alexa users” (2023). NB: This article is pay-walled, but you can read a summary of its findings here. 
• Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) in computer science
• Lucia Franco, “Made by men to serve: Why virtual assistants have a woman’s name and voice” (2023)