Exploring Public Attitudes Toward Generative AI for News Across Four Countries

As generative artificial intelligence increasingly permeates most life domains, studying how the public perceives, uses, and understands AI-driven tools becomes crucial. Especially relying on generative AI for news seeking, information acquisition, and political opinion formation warrants attention...

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Main Authors: Eliza Mitova, Sina Blassnig, Edina Strikovic, Aleksandra Urman, Aniko Hannak, Claes de Vreese, Frank Esser
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: HOPE 2025-08-01
Series:Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journalqd.org/article/view/8720
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author Eliza Mitova
Sina Blassnig
Edina Strikovic
Aleksandra Urman
Aniko Hannak
Claes de Vreese
Frank Esser
author_facet Eliza Mitova
Sina Blassnig
Edina Strikovic
Aleksandra Urman
Aniko Hannak
Claes de Vreese
Frank Esser
author_sort Eliza Mitova
collection DOAJ
description As generative artificial intelligence increasingly permeates most life domains, studying how the public perceives, uses, and understands AI-driven tools becomes crucial. Especially relying on generative AI for news seeking, information acquisition, and political opinion formation warrants attention from a democratic point of view. Therefore, we conduct a standardized survey of public assessments toward GenAI for news-related purposes, its adoption by news organizations, and how these attitudes relate to a series of individual-level characteristics across four countries (CH, DE, JP, US). Our findings indicate that audiences do not (yet) extensively use GenAI for news-related purposes and possess relatively limited AI knowledge despite acknowledging various risks and benefits. Cross-nationally, trust in the journalistic deployment of AI-powered tools is relatively low. However, assessments vary depending on individual-level characteristics and macro-level contexts. We conclude by discussing our findings' implications for building and maintaining trust between journalism and its audience.
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series Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media
spelling doaj-art-bf399f4141614ef489e31d99e1eb2ec42025-08-20T03:36:44ZengHOPEJournal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media2673-88132025-08-01510.51685/jqd.2025.012Exploring Public Attitudes Toward Generative AI for News Across Four CountriesEliza Mitova0Sina Blassnig1Edina Strikovic2Aleksandra Urman3Aniko Hannak4Claes de Vreese5Frank Esser6Department of Communication and Media Research, University of ZurichUniversité de Fribourg | Fachhochschule Graubünden (FHGR)Amsterdam School of Communication Research, University of AmsterdamDepartment of Informatics, University of ZurichDepartment of Informatics, University of ZurichAmsterdam School of Communication Research, University of AmsterdamDepartment of Communication and Media Research, University of Zurich As generative artificial intelligence increasingly permeates most life domains, studying how the public perceives, uses, and understands AI-driven tools becomes crucial. Especially relying on generative AI for news seeking, information acquisition, and political opinion formation warrants attention from a democratic point of view. Therefore, we conduct a standardized survey of public assessments toward GenAI for news-related purposes, its adoption by news organizations, and how these attitudes relate to a series of individual-level characteristics across four countries (CH, DE, JP, US). Our findings indicate that audiences do not (yet) extensively use GenAI for news-related purposes and possess relatively limited AI knowledge despite acknowledging various risks and benefits. Cross-nationally, trust in the journalistic deployment of AI-powered tools is relatively low. However, assessments vary depending on individual-level characteristics and macro-level contexts. We conclude by discussing our findings' implications for building and maintaining trust between journalism and its audience. https://journalqd.org/article/view/8720artificial intelligencesurvey datauser attitudesdigital journalismcomparative research
spellingShingle Eliza Mitova
Sina Blassnig
Edina Strikovic
Aleksandra Urman
Aniko Hannak
Claes de Vreese
Frank Esser
Exploring Public Attitudes Toward Generative AI for News Across Four Countries
Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media
artificial intelligence
survey data
user attitudes
digital journalism
comparative research
title Exploring Public Attitudes Toward Generative AI for News Across Four Countries
title_full Exploring Public Attitudes Toward Generative AI for News Across Four Countries
title_fullStr Exploring Public Attitudes Toward Generative AI for News Across Four Countries
title_full_unstemmed Exploring Public Attitudes Toward Generative AI for News Across Four Countries
title_short Exploring Public Attitudes Toward Generative AI for News Across Four Countries
title_sort exploring public attitudes toward generative ai for news across four countries
topic artificial intelligence
survey data
user attitudes
digital journalism
comparative research
url https://journalqd.org/article/view/8720
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