Varied trust in AI for news reporting

Author Moonshot.news

Published on: 19/03/2025

People in the Global South are more optimistic about AI and news reporting than in the Global North. The public and journalists largely agree that technological developments will have a positive impact on news reporting and consumption, but those in the Global North are more pessimistic when asked specifically about AI, surveys from US-based Center for News, Technology & Innovation (CNTI) shows. 

Majorities of the public in Australia (58%), Brazil (85%), and South Africa (74%) think digital technology will continue to have a positive impact on their ability to get informed in the future, compared with 46% of Americans. 

While about half of Brazilians (46%) and South Africans (49%) think AI will have a positive impact on their ability to get informed, only a third as many people in the US or Australia (15-16%) agree.

What the Public Wants from Journalism in the Age of AI comprises Australia, Brazil, South Africa and the US and What It Means to Do Journalism in the Age of AI presents findings from journalists around the world.  

Other key findings:

• Among journalists: Two-in-three journalists think that digital technology will have a positive impact on their ability to report, but only one-in-three think AI will have a positive impact on the public’s ability to get informed. In the Global South, 77% are positive about digital technology and about half — 48% — are positive about AI. In the Global North, these numbers are more muted: 54% and 16%, respectively.
• Between 62% and 79% of the public in each country are at least somewhat confident that the internet will remain a place to get and share news. South Africans are by far the most likely to be very confident, with 60% who feel this way, about twice as many as any other country. 
• 50% of journalists surveyed say they have experienced government overreach in the past year. Half of the journalists surveyed report experiencing government overreach within the last year, ranging from complaints about content to arrest or detention. Just 9% say their government offers important support for journalism, while 54% say their government seeks too much control. And at least three-in-four say it’s unacceptable for governments to define what journalism is (78%) or who journalists are (87%).
• Slightly more than a third of journalists (37%) say they face serious risks at least somewhat often, with 31% who say their sources do. At the same time, only about half as many, 15%, primarily communicate with sources using encrypted apps. 
• In liberal democracies, journalists most commonly use email to communicate with sources. Meanwhile, journalists in the other regime types had no clear favorite; instead, they were about equally likely to use many different modes of communication.