Artificial Intelligence and the Hamster Wheel of Journalism
Abstract: Artificial intelligence is changing how information is produced, circulated, and understood, with far-reaching consequences for journalism, public knowledge, and democracy. Drawing on my co-authored, open-access book Journalism in the Age of AI: From Acceleration to Reimagination (Polity, 2026), this talk argues that the current wave of AI marks a moment of fundamental change for journalism because of how deeply it reaches into the epistemic core of journalistic work, reshaping how information is gathered, interpreted, and presented.
So far, however, the dominant industry response has been acceleration: using AI to produce more content, faster, with fewer people, thereby spinning journalism's hamster wheel even faster. This talk explores how AI might instead provide an opportunity to reimagine journalism around the informational needs of audiences. It considers how AI could make news more accessible, relevant, conversational, and resilient to disinformation, while also raising difficult questions about professional judgment, accountability, and public trust. Realizing that potential will require deliberate choices about what journalism is for, what it means to practice it, and how it can continue to serve the public good.
Bio: Rodrigo Zamith is Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a Faculty Associate of the University of Wisconsin’s Public Tech Media Lab, and an interim Associate Editor of Digital Journalism. His research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of journalism and technology, with a focus on understanding the social implications of emerging technologies for how news is produced, distributed, and consumed.
