One Size Fits Some: How Journalistic Roles Shape the Adoption of Generative AI

Abstract

The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked debate about its implications for journalism and the roles of journalists. Yet, the interplay between journalistic roles and AI adoption remains underexplored. Drawing on a survey of Danish journalists (N = 299), our study addresses this gap by exploring how journalists’ professional role conceptions influence their adoption of generative AI. The results reveal role-specific patterns that align with traditional understandings of the respective role conceptions, suggesting that professional identities shape how journalists engage with new technologies. Journalists adhering to mobilisation and entertainment roles express heightened concerns about job security and work meaningfulness, while those adhering to watchdog and detached observer roles rather emphasise ethical and operational implications of generative AI for journalism. Despite these concerns, entertainment journalists actively employ generative AI to enhance content quality and audience engagement, and watchdog journalists recognise its potential to boost efficiency and accuracy. These variations across journalistic roles underscore the need for academia and news organisations to avoid oversimplified one-size-fits-all narratives about the adoption of generative AI in the news industry. Technology is simultaneously shaped by and shapes the journalists who use it, highlighting how professional identities and technological innovation co-evolve in modern journalism.