As AI transforms newsrooms across Africa, it brings both opportunities and challenges. While AI enhances content creation, fact-checking, and audience engagement, it also raises concerns about misinformation, editorial transparency, and job displacement. This session, aligned with the “Building Digital Trust and Resilience” subtheme, will explore how African media can harness AI responsibly while ensuring trust and credibility.

Through interactive discussions, real-world case studies, and diverse perspectives from journalists, tech innovators, and policymakers, the session will highlight best practices for integrating AI in newsrooms. Key focus areas include combatting AI-driven misinformation, and ensuring editorial oversight. Participants will gain insights into strategies for strengthening newsroom resilience, upholding journalistic integrity, and fostering public trust in AI-powered reporting.

Key Discussion Points:

1. AI’s Impact on African Newsrooms: Pros and Cons
• Opportunities: AI-driven fact-checking, data journalism, automation of routine tasks, and reaching underserved communities in local languages.
• Challenges: The risk of algorithmic bias, potential job losses, and the dependence on foreign AI models that may not align with African media realities.

2. Building Digital Trust in AI-Powered Journalism
• Combating misinformation and deepfakes in African elections and conflict reporting.
• Ensuring transparency in AI-driven content generation—who controls the narrative?
• The role of African governments, media houses, and civil society in regulating AI’s impact on journalism.

3. Strengthening Newsroom Resilience in the AI Era
• Training journalists to adapt to AI-driven workflows without compromising editorial integrity.
• Developing ethical AI policies that align with African values and press freedom.
• The need for independent AI governance frameworks to prevent political and corporate misuse of AI in journalism.

Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of AI’s impact on African newsrooms, exploring both its benefits such as automation, fact-checking, and audience engagement and its risks, including misinformation, bias, and job displacement. Through diverse perspectives from journalists, media executives, AI developers, and policymakers, participants will learn about best practices for building digital trust and newsroom resilience in the AI era.