Readers have not quite warmed up to AI, judging by a new study from Poynter and the University of Minnesota.
Overall, 40% never use AI. Those in the 18-29 cohort
are more likely to have tried it, those age 60+ least likely by far.
Either way, the respondents want to know when news organizations are using AI. For instance, 72% say it is
important to disclose if AI is utilized for writing the text of news stories, 52% very much so. They also want transparency regarding infographic creation (68%), editing photographs (71%) and
translating text into different languages (69%).
Moreover, 58% say newsrooms should only use AI if they establish clear ethical guidelines. This rises to 76% among
those with high news literacy, 74% of daily or weekly AI users and 65% of individuals with medium news literacy.
How is news literacy determined? By correctly answering the following
true-or-false questions:
- Public media such as PBS and NPR depend primarily on advertising for financial support—False
- Social media companies make money by collecting user data and selling targeted advertising—True
- News coverage of election campaigns rarely centers
on in-depth analysis of where candidates stand on the issues—True
- Having lots of “likes,” “shares,” or comments means a news story is
credible—False
- Only verified stories appear on Google News—False
- A local journalist is more likely to write a story
about a city council election than an election in a foreign country—True
- Employees at social media companies verify all news before it shows up on their
platform—False
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Of the group surveyed, 36% access news between two and five times per day. Another 23% do so once a day. A mere 5% are looking at news more than 10
times per day, and 6% never.
And here’s a piece of intelligence for AI companies: 55% of the respondents say that AI does not make them angry. They are more
likely to say they are hopeful, fearful or intrigued.
The questions were asked as part of a larger survey conducted by NORC’s AmeriSpeak Omnibus Survey in March 2025. There were
1,128 completes.