Key findings

• While around 80% of the 39 respondent news outlets reported the use of AI tools, the adoption of AI remains limited to personal use of generative AI chatbots for low-barrier editorial tasks such as idea generation and copy-editing.
• Structural constraints, such as lack of human or financial resources and limited technical capacity, hinder integration for customised and organisation-specific problem solving.
• Only less than a third of the news organisations had a formal editorial policy for AI use. Linguistic limitations of currently available AI tools restrict their utility for regional-language media, according to the study. For hyperlocal media operating from rural and remote areas, the effective use of AI is also limited by infrastructural issues, such as poor Internet access, and the expensive pricing plans of most commonly available AI services.
• Editors are also concerned about ethical issues related to generative AI outputs, stressing the need for human oversight in line with journalistic values of accuracy and verification.

Core recommendations:

• Independent newsrooms should designate AI focal persons, embed ethical guidelines for AI use, focus on priority use-cases for AI integration and collaborate with other media for shared solutions.
• Media development organisations should shift training from tools to strategy, support development of localised open access tech solutions and facilitate structured partnerships among media outlets.

Strategic actions

The report recommends that capacity building efforts should shift attention away from learning about specific tools toward helping local media develop a strategic understanding of AI use based on the contextualised needs of their organisations. It also suggests that digital news outlets should develop internal ethical guidelines for transparent use of AI and collaborate with other media organisations to share their experiences about AI use cases and experiment with pooled AI solutions.