Artificial intelligence (AI) is a disruptive technology that brings with it great opportunities, but also risks for the media and the formation of public opinion. For example, AI could contribute to improving the quality of news, be used to combat disinformation, underline the importance of journalism for citizens, and enable efficiency gains in media companies. At the same time, however, AI also has the potential to spread disinformation on a massive scale, jeopardize the jobs of media professionals, contribute to the erosion of newsroom resources and quality assurance processes in journalism, and undermine the public’s trust in journalism.
The project will develop a baseline understanding of AI literacy in Swiss journalism that is of central importance for the current discourse on AI in the media. Based on a survey of media professionals, the project will provide a comprehensive overview of how AI is used in Swiss news media and which measures are used to strengthen the AI literacy of journalism and audiences.
Team
Dr. Silke Fürst (Project Lead), UZH, Research Center for the Public Sphere and Society (fög) and Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ)
Dr. Daniel Vogler, UZH, Research Center for the Public Sphere and Society (fög) and Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ)
Sara Pfeuti, B.A., UZH, Research Center for the Public Sphere and Society (fög)
Nadine Klopfenstein Frei, M.A., ZHAW School of Applied Linguistics, Institute of Applied Media Studies (IAM)
Quirin Ryffel, M.A., UZH, Research Center for the Public Sphere and Society (fög) and Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ)
Damiano Lombardi, B.A., UZH, Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ)
Academic partner
Prof. Dr. Colin Porlezza, Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Institute of Media and Journalism (IMeG)
Prof. Dr. Sina Blassnig, University of Fribourg, Department of Communication and Media Research (DCM)
Practice partner
Qualität im Journalismus (QuaJou)
Schweizer Syndikat Medienschaffender (SSM)
Junge Journalistinnen und Journalisten Schweiz (JJS)
Running time: 2024-2025
Funding in the 3rd Rapid Action Call “Digital resilience: between deep fake and cyber creativity“