AI and Journalism in Southern Africa: Editors are using it, but in balance with human expertise and editorial judgment

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming part of everyday work in newsrooms across Africa. It has occurred quietly through routine tasks such as transcription, headline writing, translation and content preparation.

In southern Africa, where AI adoption is steadily increasing, its application in journalism is raising critical questions among policymakers and governments. Although the technology offers speed and efficiency gains, its use remains controversial due to ethical concerns and fear of job losses.

As communication and media scientists who research data and digital communication, our study examined their influence on production processes, ethical guidelines and workplace safety. Interviews with senior editors revealed that while AI improves efficiency and, in some cases, quality, it still requires human expertise and editorial judgment.

Senior editors described the efficiencies: faster editing, transcription, summarization, headline generation and story drafting. Large amounts of…