Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Journalism: How AI is Changing the Rules of the Game

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Like many other professions, journalism today stands at a crossroads with the rise of widespread artificial intelligence across all areas of life and work. From automating routine tasks to enhancing investigative analysis, AI is steadily — and irreversibly — redefining how news is written, consumed, and understood. As these technologies advance, they raise critical questions: How is journalism evolving? What is the modern role of a journalist? Can AI fully replace humans in the newsroom? Do news stories still require human creativity? And what exactly will the AI revolution bring us? None of these questions have simple answers.

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A New Era for Newsrooms

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AI promises a real revolution in journalism. When it comes to processing and analyzing existing data, AI outperforms humans by far. It can process vast amounts of information in seconds, potentially freeing journalists to focus on more complex narratives. Routine reporting — like sports scores or financial updates — is already being generated by AI in major newsrooms, including the Associated Press, all in the name of greater efficiency.

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Beyond production, AI also personalizes content, tailoring news to individual reader interests. Fact-checking has improved too, with AI tools cross-referencing sources to combat misinformation — something crucial in today’s polarized media environment.

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In short, AI is no longer just a tool; it’s a partner in shaping how news is created and delivered. Of course, this transformation is happening gradually. At the Reuters Institute 2025 conference, experts pointed out that AI-generated content often lacks depth and sometimes leans more toward promoting products than grappling with ethical implications. This gap highlights the need for journalists to maintain critical oversight — no matter how optimistic we are about the technology.

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Journalists as Context Keepers

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Today’s journalists are increasingly evolving into supervisors of AI-generated content. Their task is to ensure accuracy and infuse stories with human nuance. While AI can certainly write, humans are still needed to shape narratives, guide storytelling, and create content that resonates emotionally — something AI struggles with even today. Investigative journalism remains a stronghold. AI can assist in data analysis, but journalists interpret that data and tell the stories. Investigative reports, opinion pieces, editorials, and compelling narratives demand human ingenuity. Writing stories that emotionally connect with readers or uncover hidden truths — it's hard to imagine autonomous newsrooms, completely run by AI, anytime soon.

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The Current Media Landscape

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But what about simpler news forms? Does every news story require human creativity? The issue becomes even more complex when we look at the current media scene — for instance, in Serbia. How often have you read an article on a topic you know well, only to find inaccuracies, misinformation, and unfounded conclusions? Leaving politics aside — even if we just examine media through the lens of marketing and communication — the quality of content dominating over 80% of today’s media (by my estimation) is so low that even free AI tools available today would represent a quantum leap forward.

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Tough Questions for the Future

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And that leads us to one of the toughest questions of our time: What parts of human work will AI truly replace in the near future? The optimistic view says: AI will take over the tasks people don’t really want to do anyway. Writing content just to meet a daily quota, or filling space on a page just because an image can’t be stretched any larger — these are tasks most people would gladly hand over to machines.

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Of course, from an individual’s perspective, any job loss is deeply personal and complex. But from a broader societal view — do we regret the loss of manual production following the Industrial Revolution? Should we mourn the disappearance of simple, repetitive tasks, whether physical or intellectual, that require no creativity?

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Today, the key question is about boundaries. At this stage, technology still can’t replicate the irreplaceable human touch. The boundary sits exactly where humans remain unmatched.

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However, as we face a future where AI could surpass human capabilities in every way, new questions arise — questions we don't yet have clear answers to. And the real challenge is: How long can we afford not to have those answers?

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Written for Marketing Mreža by:
Filip Nikolić, Senior Account Manager, AI R&D, SmartPoint Adria