Artificial Intelligence in the Spanish Media: New Uses and Tools in the Production and Distribution of Content

Introduction

The arrival of Artificial Intelligence technologies in the media offers multiple benefits, such as the possibility of recommending content to users, automating journalists' tasks, improving audience interaction through chatbots, or verifying information (Rivas de Roca, 2021; Sánchez-Esparza et al., 2024). However, the implementation of these technologies faces issues ranging from economic cost to difficulties in hiring experts to develop AI solutions to internal attitudes of resistance to change (Fieiras et al., 2022). The presence of AI in journalism has sparked major debates about the extent of its adoption. Its integration into content production and distribution processes has created new opportunities, but also drawbacks (Noain-Sánchez, 2022).

Among the benefits of AI in journalism is the ease of use of data, but there are also challenges such as the absence of technological infrastructures and qualified personnel and high costs, which hinder the implementation of AI in media organizations (De Lima & Salaverría, 2021). This research aims to address the impact that the arrival of AI is having on the work of journalists, through the study of a group of these professionals specialized in investigative journalism. The paper analyzes what tools are being used in the media in Spain, for what uses and what impact they are having on the transformation of content and professional profiles, as well as the perspectives of these professionals regarding the possibilities and risks derived from the implementation of these new technologies in the media.

The incorporation of AI in the media is part of the digital transformation processes experienced in the sector in recent decades. These processes are the result of the interaction between different forms of digital innovation that give rise to the emergence of new actors, structures, practices, and values. These elements, which replace and complement those that previously existed, are often accompanied by the emergence of new organizational forms, infrastructures, and institutional architectures (Hinings, Gegenhuber, & Greenwood, 2018). Digital transformation also implies a change in work methodologies and the establishment of new forms of relationships between the actors involved. It therefore involves a change in the production model that influences all the elements and activities involved in the value chain of a given product or service (Mergel, Edelmann, & Haug, 2019).

Nowadays, the digital transformation of the media involves a set of complex processes that must be approached in a strategic and comprehensive sense, since they affect both the structure of the content that is produced and distributed, and the relationship that the media themselves establish with their audiences (Sánchez, 2022). The growing prominence assumed by audiences in digital media has favored the transition from the production models typical of industrial environments, in which they remained unrelated to the development and production of the content they consumed, to digital environments, in which the boundaries between producers and consumers are increasingly blurred (Fernández, 2017).

In this context, the emergence of generative artificial intelligence tools raises the need to redefine the processes of production and distribution of news content. In fact, automation powered by generative AI allows media outlets to accelerate their production processes, freeing journalists from mechanical tasks, to focus on those that bring greater value to their work (Papadimitriou, 2016), automate the search and classification of information (Lemelshtrich, 2018) or combat disinformation more proactively and effectively (Flew et al., 2012).