AI in Journalism

Junior Professor Dr Jessica Kunert has been awarded a three-year research project entitled ‘AI in Journalism: Exploring AI Circles in Journalism (J-AIC)’ by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Together with Prof Juliane Lischka (University of Hamburg) and Nancy Booker (Aga Khan University, Kenya), she is investigating the work of newsrooms with artificial intelligence (AI) from a comparative perspective between Germany and Kenya. The team focuses on the role of inter-organisational networks (so-called AI circles) in the introduction of AI and on the appropriation of AI by users, as well as the prerequisites for this. Using an integrative framework for media innovation, a mixed methods approach is used to compare the factors of AI adoption and network formation at macro, meso and micro levels. At the macro level, the study explores how technological developments, media guidelines and regulations influence AI adoption, comparing Kenya and Germany. At the meso level, the study examines inter-organisational AI circles and uncovers actor constellations in both countries. At the micro level, the focus is on individual actors (e.g. journalists) and communication patterns within AI circles over time. The overarching goal of the project is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the responsible appropriation of AI in journalism, with implications for innovation theory and the research field of responsible AI.