How Leading Media Organizations Are Tackling Artificial Intelligence: Organizational Changes, Reactions, Projects, and Tools

Once the significance of artificial intelligence (AI) in journalism is acknowledged, the future of the profession largely depends on how its key actors organize to address its effects. Based on 21 semi-structured interviews with executives, technicians, and journalists from eight leading UK media outlets, this article examines organizational changes (such as interdisciplinary work groups and training programs), differing reactions among professional profiles, internally developed AI projects, and the use of generative AI tools. The findings reveal uneven levels of development across these areas, influenced mainly by prior experience and the relationship with AI technology. Professionals with more technical or data-oriented roles tend to adopt AI more readily, while others express caution or skepticism. At the organizational level, long-term strategies and early investment emerge as key factors differentiating advanced implementations from more exploratory approaches. The research also reflects that half of the media outlets analyzed are implementing their own AI developments, and that most professionals are using tools based on this technology in some way. Understanding and critically analyzing these dynamics is essential to ensure that the profound industrial transformation underway benefits both the sustainability and integrity of the sector.