At the 87th AIPS Congress in Rabat, Morocco, global sports media leaders and technology experts gathered to explore the fast-growing influence of Artificial Intelligence in journalism, while issuing a clear message: progress must be grounded in ethics.
The panel discussion, which brought together figures from UNESCO, international media organisations and leading news outlets, examined the double-edged nature of AI’s rise, its transformative potential for productivity and storytelling, and the ethical, legal and financial risks that come with it.
Powerful but imperfect tools
Mariagrazia Squicciarini of UNESCO opened the session by highlighting AI’s unprecedented acceleration, citing the emergence of localised models, open-source frameworks, and autonomous AI agents. She stressed the urgency for human oversight, noting that smaller newsrooms in particular stand to benefit, but only if ethical standards are enforced.
That ethical framework was given its first global codification in 2021 when UNESCO released its Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, a document designed to shape responsible use across sectors, including media.
Efficiency meets ownership concerns
For Sanjay Sindhwani, CEO of Indian Express Online, AI has already revolutionised newsroom operations. From transcription and translation to identifying story leads, journalists are increasingly relying on AI tools to handle time-consuming tasks. But he warned that ease of use does not negate legal complications. Citing the US Copyright Office, he noted that AI systems often learn from protected content without permission, raising critical questions over intellectual property.
This tension between utility and ownership is being addressed by some media outlets through direct collaboration with AI developers. Vincent Amalvy of Agence France-Presse spoke about the agency’s recent deal with Mistral AI, which allows the French company to license its content directly to the chatbot platform. At the same time, AFP has fortified its fact-checking and content verification systems, including a department of over 200 journalists and a partnership with the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity.
Using C2PA-compatible tools, AFP can now embed encrypted, invisible watermarks into photos at the point of capture, a measure that ensures authenticity and combats image manipulation. This system was used during the 2024 US elections to guarantee that AFP’s visuals could be verified in real-time.
Global concerns and uneven readiness
Zhou Jie, Deputy Director of Sports News at China’s Xinhua News Agency, pointed to challenges beyond copyright. While his organisation uses AI for tasks like sensitive word detection and user profiling, he identified three pressing barriers: high costs, a lack of hybrid journalism-technology expertise, and unreliable data quality. Without resolving these, he warned, AI technology will not be fully utilised in news reporting.
Marca CEO Juan Ignacio Gallardo offered a more philosophical stance, urging journalists not to fear AI, but to understand its limits. There is something AI will never be able to do, and that is journalism, he said. AI cannot meet a source for coffee. It cannot knock on doors. It cannot verify what is going on. Only we can.
Gallardo’s point echoed a broader concern: while AI is valuable for processing and packaging content, the core act of reporting, investigation, verification, and human connection remains beyond its reach.
Redefining business models
Still, financial implications loom large. Sindhwani pointed to the shift in how audiences consume information. If AI serves everything directly to users, fewer people visit our websites, and that breaks the current business model, he said. As a media executive, that is a crisis. As a user, I see the value. So we need to rethink everything, from staffing to revenue.
He foresees a future where newsrooms deploy more journalists in the field and fewer at the desk, as AI increasingly handles post-production and administrative work.
Looking ahead
While all panellists acknowledged AI’s vast potential, they called for safeguards, legal, operational, and editorial. The consensus was clear: AI will not replace journalism, but it will reshape it.
As Squicciarini concluded, we must agree on what we do not want AI to do. Once that is clear, we can allow its development to move forward in ways that support humanity and enrich journalism.
With regulation lagging and AI evolving at breakneck speed, the AIPS Congress made one thing clear: journalism’s future will be shaped not just by how AI is used, but by how wisely and ethically it is integrated into the profession.
