Business Insider is now allowing journalists to use AI for first drafts without needing to disclose usage to readers. This is a massive shift for news. While the presence of AI in newsrooms is inevitable, disclosure alone won’t safeguard credibility.
Media organizations must reinforce trust with their readership. That means communicating how they’re using these technologies and preserving the human touch. If news outlets fail to maintain this trust through the AI transition, they alienate the very audiences their businesses depend on.
The Newsroom Crunch
Every industry is rushing to adopt AI. And for media outlets, AI usage increasingly makes sense. Amid financial pressures, newsrooms across the country are shrinking staff and tightening budgets. This year, multiple newsrooms, including The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, CNN and NBC, laid off staff for economic reasons. Business Insider was not immune: the company underwent three rounds of layoffs, reducing 21% of its staff as part of a shift toward AI integration.
Newsrooms must evolve to meet industry needs, and leveraging tools like AI to help fill the gaps isn’t unreasonable. Anyone who has played with an LLM has seen how fast it can summarize long documents, analyze data or streamline ideation.
But integrating AI can never come at the expense of the reader. When AI is writing the news, it’s not a tool; it’s a replacement—and audiences can feel the difference.
A University of Kansas study found that people regarded news releases written by humans as more credible than AI-generated releases—and even if they weren’t sure to what extent AI was used, they were immediately suspicious. Additionally, even as many adults use AI themselves, half of U.S. adults think AI will have a long-term negative effect on news. Human storytelling is often what makes for authentic, impactful stories and increases an already trust-starved readership.
Responsible AI Use for Communicators
So how do communications professionals leverage the benefits of AI without alienating their readers?
Business Insider’s disclosure offers one potential approach. Transparent news outlets that reveal the extent of their AI usage will build greater trust with their audience than those that start to use it quietly behind the scenes and hope to go undetected.
But disclosure alone isn’t enough. Communicators need to be thoughtful about how they use AI. The best approach is to use AI as an assistant, while still relying on human judgment to guide the work. AI is a powerful tool that speeds up research, media monitoring and drafting processes. It can also segment audiences and anticipate their questions and concerns. These insights strengthen messaging and help communications professionals craft responses that resonate. Still, speed and insight only go so far. LLMs can generate false or made-up information, and human eyes are necessary to edit and fact-check AI outputs.
The Power of an Audience
Communications professionals should also prioritize listening to their audience. Listening has always been key to understanding what resonates, and that remains true with AI. One way to do this is by watching how audiences react to news outlets that disclose—or don’t disclose—AI usage. Shifts in subscription levels, public trust and website traffic can all signal whether readers are moving away from or sticking with those news sources. Using that information, we can adapt pitches according to what our audiences actually want.
AI is an incredibly useful time-saving resource. It frees up more time for humans to foster relationships and exercise creativity. Most of all, it makes space for people to do what only they can do: connect with audiences with empathy and authenticity.
Business Insider is bound to influence other news outlets. While some publications will rely on trust through AI disclosures, others will completely pivot. But one principle is foundational: keep humans at the center. Whether that means keeping humans at the center of journalism or prioritizing their preferences, people must hear—clearly and often— that news sources are using AI to augment human creativity and intellect instead of replacing it.
Nicole Tidei is a Vice President at Pinkston, a Washington D.C.-based full service branding, marketing and communications firm.