The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on News Credibility and Media Ethics

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in newsrooms creates the issue of how it will affect perceived news credibility and ethical standards. The online experiment (n=1,200) was conducted in a 2x2 format and investigated the impact of message credibility, accuracy, fairness, and sharing willingness between byline (Human vs. AI-assisted) and disclosure (None vs. Explicit). The findings indicated a low but significant penalty against AI-assisted bylines, which was alleviated by direct disclosure, suggesting editorial control (AI-assisted; editor verified), particularly in people more media literate. The qualitative results indicated that the human-in-the-loop verification, the division of tasks, and the provenance practices could tackle these issues. The paper recommends that responsible AI usage involves a set of dedicated disclosure, human validation, and transparency to ensure credibility and ethical standards.