Generative Visual AI in News Organizations: Challenges, Opportunities, Perceptions, and Policies
T.J. Thomson, Ryan J. Thomas, Phoebe Matich · Digital Journalism · 2024
The use of AI-enabled text-to-image generators, such as Midjourney and DALL-E, raises profound questions about the purpose, meaning, and value of images generally, and the production, editing, and consumption of images in journalism specifically.This study explores how photo editors (or their equivalents) in seven countries perceive and/or use generative visual AI in their editorial operations and outlines the challenges and opportunities they see for the technology.It also identifies the extent to which these news organizations have policies governing how generative visual AI is used or, if not, the principles that they feel should inform their development.Participants identified mis/disinformation as the primary challenge of AI-generated images, also raising concerns about labor and copyright implications, the difficulty or impossibility of detecting AI-generated images, the potential for algorithmic bias, and the potential reputational risk of using AI-generated images.Conversely, participants saw potential for using AI for illustrations and brainstorming, while a minority saw it as an opportunity to increase efficiencies and cut costs.In March 2023, images of Pope Francis wearing a white Balenciaga puffer jacket went viral on social media (see Figure 1).Only subtle visual cues revealed the pictures as unreal.The photorealism of the images, created in the text-to-image generator Midjourney, led many users to believe the images to be genuine (Lu 2023).Other images, such as those envisioning the arrest of Donald Trump or purporting to depict the conflict between Israel and Palestine in Gaza, were reported on by or found themselves in news media, raising questions about how journalists perceive, use, and/ or respond to this fast-evolving technology.The influence of generative AI models can be seen across journalistic inputs and outputs, as well as across continents.In mid-September 2023, the New York Times posted a job opening for a "Newsroom Generative AI Lead" tasked with leading the organization's efforts to "ambitiously and responsibly make use of generative artificial intelligence."On the other side of the world, in rural Australia, a digital journalism start-up quietly used an AI-generated image in August 2023 to accompany a news