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The Machines Are Coming for the Newsroom: Journalists Warn of an AI Takeover

  • 57.2% of journalists fear AI could replace more jobs in the coming years
  • 2% have already lost their jobs to AI, while others suspect it was a factor
  • 33.7% have witnessed AI tracking news via social media
  • Over 80% believe AI-generated stories could be biased or discriminatory
  • More than 60% worry AI will erode human identity and autonomy in journalism
  • Only 26.2% believe AI could enhance investigative journalism—while 30.4% see it as a direct risk to integrity

More than half of journalists fear their jobs are next. Are we watching the slow death of human-led reporting?

In a profession built on truth-telling, the truth journalists are now confronting is a deeply unsettling one: the machines are not just coming—they’re already here.

In the Journalism and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Survey carried out by Pressat, working journalists have revealed that 57.2% are concerned that artificial intelligence (AI) will replace more journalism jobs in the coming years. While technology has long played a role in shaping how news is gathered and reported, this new wave—marked by automated content creation, AI-based social media monitoring, and algorithmic editorial decisions—is sparking alarm across the industry.

Over 70% of journalists said they are actively worried about AI displacing them within the next few years.

Trust is at the heart of this growing unease. A staggering over 80% of journalists expressed concern that AI-generated news could be biased or discriminatory, with one admitting, “I have witnessed this already.”

"AI isn't a tool, it's a threat,” one journalist noted. “It doesn’t understand context, humanity, or ethics—but it’s cheaper." another respondent wrote.

The threat is not just professional—it’s existential. More than 60% believe AI could lead to a loss of human identity and autonomy in news reporting, with some warning that AI-generated content risks stripping journalism of its soul, turning a once deeply human profession into a sanitized stream of data outputs.

30.4% of respondents reported that they see AI as a potential risk to investigative journalism.

While many view AI as a threat to journalism, others believe it could open the door to new roles—particularly in overseeing or managing AI systems. Around half of those surveyed expressed this view. Still, confidence in newsrooms’ ability to handle the shift remains low. Most rated their organisations’ readiness between two and four out of five, suggesting only limited trust in how responsibly AI will be introduced.

57.6% of journalists stated that they have witnessed AI being used to track growing news stories by monitoring social media platforms. And while many acknowledge AI’s power to speed up story tracking, especially via social media surveillance, others voiced chilling concerns about AI being used silently in the background by employers—undermining both editorial independence and job security.

Only a small minority of journalists felt their organisations had any real plan for ethical AI adoption.

One respondent put it bluntly: “We’re being thrown into this blindly, and it’s going to cost us our credibility.”

This survey sends a stark message: the profession that once held power to challenge Big Tech now finds itself at its mercy. AI’s rise is no longer a future threat—it’s a present reality. And for many in journalism, the question isn’t whether AI will change their work—it’s whether there will still be human journalists left to do it.

About Journalism and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Survey:

We surveyed 2,000 working journalists across the globe to better understand the impact AI is having on the industry. Names and publications have been removed from the results to protect privacy due to the sensitive nature of the survey.

Raw results can be found here in CSV format:

Press Contact:

Alison Lancaster

alison.lancaster@pressat.co.uk

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