Newsnet #5. The impact of artificial intelligence on social communication

The expansion of generative artificial intelligence has transformed the way information is produced and circulated, raising pressing questions about its impact on truthfulness, authorship, and informational responsibility. In this new landscape, disinformation is taking on increasingly sophisticated and harder-to-detect forms, making its study an urgent task in understanding the balance between technology, power, and public knowledge.

In this context, the Newsnet #5 seminar took place at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) on December 13, 2024 and sought to find answers to understand the impact that the incorporation of artificial intelligence will have in the media, particularly in aspects such as misinformation or the impact on journalists and their audiences.

This event is organised as part of the activities carried out within the framework of the projects Impact of artificial intelligence and algorithms on online media, journalists and audiences (PID2022-138391OB-I00) and Automated counter narratives against misinformation and hate speech for journalists and social media (TED2021-130810B-C22).

These projects, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, aim to analyse how misinformation spreads and how the media seek to counter it, as well as to assess the impact of artificial intelligence implementation, particularly in its social dimension.

This volume is structured in two main sections that are in dialogue with one another. The first examines how artificial intelligence is becoming embedded at the core of communication and journalism, reshaping the ways in which information is produced, distributed and received. Through various studies, it explores processes of automation, and the tensions that arise between technological innovation and the principles underpinning journalistic practice. It also addresses the ethical, legal and social challenges that accompany this transition.

The second section broadens the focus to other forms of digital communication. It brings together research that investigates how social media and new expressive formats are redefining the relationships between media and their audiences. These contributions allow for the situating of artificial intelligence within a wider ecosystem, where technology, culture and everyday life intersect.

Taken together, the chapters in this volume provide a broad and detailed picture of the challenges and possibilities that artificial intelligence brings to the field of social communication. They aim to encourage critical thinking about how these technologies are shaping public debate and the role of journalism in today’s digital environment.