The Impact of Generative AI on Journalistic Credibility and Trust

Generative AI is potentially efficient in the newsrooms, but raises concerns about the issue of credibility and trust. We evaluate its effect and the results of 600 articles each with a stratified content analysis of each production mode (human/AI-assisted/AI-generated) and with disclosure (none/minimal/rich) (1) to determine its effect on accuracy, sourcing, and correction latency; (2) a preregistered 3 × 3 experiment manipulating production mode and disclosure (none/minimal/rich) to determine its effect on perceived article credibility and brand trust. Higher error and hallucination rates and fewer named sources, and slower corrections of AI-generated items are demonstrated by content analysis. Minimal AI labels diminish credibility and trust experimentally, but rich, process-level disclosure, naming, editorial verification, and sources mitigate penalties of work assisted by AI. We give policy and legitimacy implications to the newsroom.