Traditional Media 'Poised' For Responsible AI Integration

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Traditional media has the legacy and infrastructure to lead on responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration and journalists must develop both technical fluency and ethical discernment, a faculty member at Qatar Foundation partner Northwestern University in Qatar told Gulf Times.
"Traditional media is at crossroads. The future of journalism will depend not on whether it uses AI, but how. Institutions that centre on transparency, editorial accountability, and audience trust will remain relevant. Those that delegate these responsibilities to machines may struggle to maintain public confidence,” said Dr Eddy Borges-Rey, associate professor in residence at the Department of Journalism & Strategic Communication Programme.
While traditional media has the legacy and infrastructure to lead on responsible AI integration, it faces commercial and political pressures that may encourage short-term gains over long-term credibility, he felt.
Journalists need to understand how AI systems are trained, what their limitations are, and how their outputs should be verified and contextualised.“Equally important is critical thinking: journalists need to question not just what AI says, but why it says so, and whether the assumptions built into those tools align with the values of their communities,” Dr Borges-Rey said.
The global media landscape is diverging and in the Global North, AI is largely positioned as a tool for efficiency and innovation, the academic pointed out.
“However, in the Global South, the stakes are different. The risks of cultural erasure, algorithmic bias, and entrenched digital inequality are far greater. Through our ongoing research on digital citizenship in the Global South -particularly in Qatar - we have found that media consumption and digital engagement are profoundly shaped by local cultural values, religious norms, and state-society relations,” he continued.
The professor highlighted that citizens in the Global South do not engage with digital technologies in ways that mirror Global North assumptions and instead, their interactions often reflect context-specific logics of trust, visibility, and agency.
“After just a few years of generative AI's introduction, it is difficult to predict with certainty how journalism will evolve. What is clear, however, is that AI risks undermining journalism's essential function in helping the public understand the world and make informed decisions. The future of the global media landscape will hinge on whether we can design and govern AI systems that protect pluralism, amplify underrepresented voices, and remain sensitive to the complex realities of non-Western societies,” he highlighted.
Dr Borges-Rey was of the view that seeing AI as just another tool is reductionist.“I see it rather as a transformative force that challenges our assumptions about knowledge, authority, and responsibility. If journalism is to remain a meaningful institution, we must be proactive in shaping how AI is adopted. That means investing in education, building internal safeguards, and centering voices from the Global South in global debates. We should be cautiously optimistic."
“We are still to see what AI will mean for journalism, but if we do not proceed with critical awareness, we risk repeating the same mistakes. The stakes are not only professional-they are civic, epistemic, and ethical,” he added.

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