Illustration by Dana Heimes

Muhammad Ali still remembers the first time he saw what he called “a completely A.I. newsroom” in the United States. 

In 2024, television reporters and production crews at Los Angeles-based Channel 1 became generated by artificial intelligence, with humans replaced by scans of people that read the news. 

“They are producing, disseminating and gathering news content through A.I.,” said Ali, a PhD student in journalism. “You could see it if you looked closely at the anchors’ mouths, and some of their gestures.” 

It’s the sort of thing Ali had never seen in American journalism before, but A.I. anchors have been in use throughout Asia and the Middle East, including his 
native Pakistan, for years, and are quickly getting better at mimicking human speaking behaviors. 

“What’s really unknown, especially in the U.S., is how audiences will react to these changes, and whether they will accept A.I. news presenters,” he said.

Even if you have been following the rise of A.I. journalists and anchors, you may not be aware that stations have required anchors to sign deals giving media companies the rights to their faces. That allows those companies to build avatar anchors that are available day and night; don’t require holidays, health insurance or sick time; and don’t have long commutes. 

Ali’s advisor, Patrick Ferrucci, a professor and chair of the journalism department, said because of the economic elegy in editorial, “you can absolutely see A.I. anchors coming to journalism.” 

“But understanding how to use these technologies without making yourself irrelevant is something we talk to our students about,” Ferrucci said, “and Ali’s research is really important, especially as the topic is so understudied 
outside of Asia.” 

Ali is somewhat more optimistic about A.I.’s potential to create new kinds of journalism jobs. But there are many ethical considerations to moves like this—and given the speed at which artificial intelligence is rolling out in news and elsewhere, research like Ali’s is critical to understanding how this technology could change our relationship with the news.  

“If something goes wrong, who will be responsible?” he said. “The organization is requiring the journalist to give his face, but that face doesn’t come with his integrity and objectivity and beliefs. There is real potential for misuse.” 

He’s finding examples of that already, including authoritarian regimes and terrorist groups using A.I. anchors to convincingly disseminate misinformation and propaganda. The tech industry’s growing influence on information, in general, is a concern of his. 

“The influence of technology companies on the news is much more than what we ever expected, which means we have to answer for new kinds of biases or hallucinations in the data that aren’t being fact-checked,” Ali said. “And like we’ve heard about in other industries, editorial decisions are being affected by these technologies.” 

Ali is committed to using his PhD to teach future generations of students to work with these technologies and become smart consumers of journalism who are aware of A.I.’s inroads into the nightly news.

“These A.I. videos are generating views on social media, they’re making money on social media—and the business managers will be paying close attention to that,” he said.