Artificial Intelligence in the Newsgathering Process and Safeguarding Media Consumers from Misinformation

With generative artificial intelligence (gAI) becoming increasingly prevalent in society despite only being released to the masses in the early 2020s, journalists face challenges in covering content related to, or of, gAI. In 2026, the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) released additional guidance on AI-generated content, telling journalists to treat it the same as most other content and verify it. However, gAI content brings with it additional risks of misinformation. This study seeks to identify and weigh those risks, and assess whether existing literature and guidance in the journalism industry is sufficient to adapt to these new technologies.