How-to Guides

A Checklist of 18 Pitfalls in AI Journalism, by Sayash Kapoor and Arvind Narayanan, September 30, 2022. Based on reports published by outlets like the New York Times and CNN, this brief guide identifies recurrent problems—such as attributing agency to AI or treating company spokespersons as neutral parties—that mislead the public. Recognizing these “pitfalls” can help journalists avoid them in their own reporting. (Kapoor and Narayanan’s checklist was the original inspiration for Algorithmic Literacy for Journalists.)

AI and Responsible Journalism Toolkit, Tomasz Hollanek, et al., DesirableAI, 2023. A comprehensive, evolving resource organized into four main areas: education, ethics, voices, and structures. With a goal of halting the spread of problematic AI narratives while fostering inclusivity and diversity in discussions about AI, the toolkit includes specific guidance for journalists and news reporters and positive examples of reporting on AI. Highly recommended.

Reporting on Artificial Intelligence: A Handbook for Journalism Educators, Maarit Jaakkola, ed., UNESCO International Program for the Development of Communication (IDPC) and World Journalism Education Council, 2023. Artificial intelligence (AI) means different things to different people. Across seven modules this guide covers everything from defining AI to cultural myths and patterns of storytelling in reporting about it.

Your Newsroom Needs an AI Ethics Policy. Start Here, Kelly McBride, Poynter, March 25, 2024. How to ground newsroom implementation of AI in the core journalistic principles of accuracy, transparency, and audience trust. Includes specific guidelines for privacy and security, customizing GPTs, and promoting audience AI literacy.

A Primer and FAQ on Copyright Law and Generative AI for News Media, João Pedro Quintais and Nick Diakopoulos, Generative AI in the News Room, April 25, 2023. An overview of “some of the most pressing and pertinent legal issues that journalists need to consider in their use of generative AI.” This article includes background on copyright law and AI models, answers to seven frequently asked questions (such as, “Do I own the output if I prompted the model?”), and a handful of practical suggestions for responsible use.

Better Images of AI: A Guide for Users and Creators, Kanta Dihal and Tania Duarte, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence and We and AI, 2023. Designed for artists, educators, and activists, this guide will also be useful to reporters concerned with how biased visual representations of artificial intelligence shape false public perceptions of AI. Based on a year-long study of better ways to create images of AI, involving more than 100 experts from the tech sector, media, education, research, policy and the arts, the guide shows how to source and create images that communicate accurately and compellingly about AI.

Better Images of AI: A Guide for Users and Creators

Tips for Posting Art, Don’t Delete Art, updated December 19, 2023. Although mostly focused on challenges faced by artists who post their work on social media platforms, this guide includes tips that also apply to journalists and newsrooms, including especially those using social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.

Introducing 5 AI Solutions for Local News, Nicole Meir, Associated Press, October 10, 2023. From automated writing of public safety incidents to creating transcripts of city council meetings that include keyword identification and reporter alerts, this report features AI applications of direct relevance to local news organizations.

Algorithmic Equity Toolkit, ACLU Washington, May 2020. Primarily designed for grassroots activists, the toolkit helps its users to identify and understand AI tech used by government agencies (including law enforcement), to ask critical questions about that technology’s social impacts, and to establish oversight mechanisms. The clear and precise set of questions to ask policymakers is ready for use by journalists.

Algorithmic Equity Toolkit

The Pulitzer Center’s AI Spotlight Series provides resources, coaching, and workshops to prepare reporters and editors to “cover and shape coverage of AI and its profound influence on society.” Webinars include a 90-minute introduction to reporting on AI and additional, more intensive sessions; the resources feature more than a dozen exemplary reports on holding AI technologies (and the humans behind them) accountable, focused on areas such as disabilities, welfare, and global surveillance. The Pulitzer Center also provides AI Reporting Fellowships to support journalists working on in-depth AI accountability stories.

Try your hand at Algorithm Watch’s online game, Can You Break the Algorithm? (October 2023). You’ll play the role of a journalist tasked by a tough editor with determining whether the algorithm used by TikTube, a fictional social media company, makes teenagers sad. In about ten minutes, your character will pursue answers from regulators, scholars, and industry in an attempt to file a strong story on deadline. This entertaining game offers useful lessons about the challenges of algorithmic accountability reporting.