ONA is partnering with Trusting News on a project to explore audience reactions to newsrooms’ use of artificial intelligence. We’re recruiting a small cohort of newsrooms to test AI disclosures and talk to their audiences to learn about their perceptions of AI use in news.
Many newsrooms already have an AI policy for internal use — but are you disclosing your use of AI publicly for your audience? Is it disclosed in a way your audience can easily find and understand?
Whether you’re already making your AI policy public or haven’t gotten there yet, we can help. We want to ask: What do the people in your target audience already know about AI? What assumptions do they have? What do they misunderstand?
How to join
U.S. newsrooms willing to invest in understanding audience perceptions of the use of AI in journalism are invited to apply to join the cohort of participating organizations. Teams of two or three people will participate from each newsroom. Participants can be from any role in the newsroom, as long as you have some involvement in decisions about AI use. (This opportunity is not a good fit for freelancers.)
Between July 1 and Aug. 16, selected participants will commit to:
- Surveying and interviewing members of their community about their perceptions of and opinions about use of AI in journalism
- Sharing results with Trusting News and contributing to the industry’s shared knowledge
- Developing or refining an AI policy for your newsroom, and pointing to that policy from within related coverage
- Talking more informally to your audience about what you’re learning and exploring in a way that works for you (e.g., a column, social posts)
Newsrooms should be prepared to commit three to five hours a week (per team, not per participant) to the cohort, and will need management approval to participate.
Deadline to apply: June 19. We’ll notify teams of acceptance June 21.
How to stay in touch about the results and best practices
Whether or not you apply, we hope you’ll join us in learning about audience trust and AI use. There are several opportunities:
- Join us next Friday, June 14, for a training with Trusting News’ Lynn Walsh on current best practices and opportunities for talking about AI use with your audience. ONA members can join for free, $25 registration fee for nonmembers.
- The Trusting News team will lead a session at ONA24 sharing what they learned from the cohort work and helping attendees apply best practices to their own AI disclosures. See the session and more programming on the schedule.
- As we continue to work in this subject, we’ll share updates with the community. Sign up for updates from our AI in Journalism Initiative to get more information in your inbox.
Support more AI resources
The AI in Journalism Initiative delivers essential resources for journalists and newsroom leaders to understand what emerging tech and trends they should focus on now.
Learn more about the AI in Journalism Initiative
Funding for ONA’s AI in Journalism Initiative is generously provided by Microsoft. To learn more about supporting this AI programming, contact Hanaa Rifaey, Head of Strategic Partnerships, at hanaa@journalists.org. To share a programming idea or for questions about the sessions, connect with Meghan Murphy, Director of Programs, at meghan@journalists.org.
