The continued rise of artificial intelligence in every work field imaginable, including journalism, raises the question of what it means to place computers in control of a field dedicated to the human experience. If people are taken out of the journalistic field, it will inevitably remove the meaning of writing in the first place. 

Major local publications like the Des Moines Register have recently partnered with AI-fueled engines to make parts of the job easier. Business Insider followed these steps and laid off 21% of their staff in 2025 in anticipation of AI doing the job for free. What these publications don’t realize is that although it may seem harmless to turn to AI for an answer here or there, it’s a short step away from entering a prompt for an article rather than shelling out money to a writer. 

This impact is not only felt in a lack of job opportunities in an already difficult industry, but with the inherent decline of humanity that’s essential to doing it right. Sports Illustrated, a primarily human-interest and sports publication, even went so far as to use AI-generated photos and words for stories they still claim are original. AI may be able to write easily, but how can a human-interest story be properly written by a machine devoid of human emotion? It isn’t possible to cover a story where lives are being lost when the writer has no stakes in the world it’s writing about. Empathy and awareness are a must when covering sensitive topics, and it requires a human touch to be done in a way that’s both informative and effective. 

Journalistic codes of ethics were not constructed as a means of limitation but as a way to maintain quality and care in a world that tries to suppress both. AI has no reason to rely on an ethical code when writing, and it doesn’t risk the loss of a job when it crosses those lines. Rules like “Neither speed nor format excuses inaccuracy,” or “Show compassion for those who may be affected by news coverage,” are thrown out the window by the very basis of using AI — inaccuracy is rampant in its usage and compassion is an impossibility. 

The world is already integrating AI into daily internet usage, with most major search engines supporting AI summaries. However, these summaries are often wrong. By allowing AI a prominent role in informational writing fields, we are opening a gateway to a new level of journalistic misinformation — not tainted by a human’s desire to lie with purpose and consequence, but a machine that can lie without repercussion. 

The threat of deepfakes, artificially generated images or videos of a person, becomes even more terrifying depending on who is behind the AI being used. AI being the one to create and cover news with possible fabricated images of politicians allows the embellishment of stories, and encourages political misconduct by outlets leaning towards one party or another. What used to be considered libel or slander can now be brushed aside as machine error. 

People’s perceptions of the world are often built on how they receive their news and what they read. If AI is to take the position of journalists nationwide, especially in politically centered areas, then our view of the world will be as artificial as the machine writing it.

As someone who has been involved in journalism for over five years now, it’s horrifying to watch as the value of information is replaced by a dire need to make more and more money. AI has the potential to be a useful tool, but not when it’s destroying the environment and replacing social interaction. 

The value of writing is to be able to express your thoughts and opinions on the happenings of the world, not to have a machine do it for you. The use of AI in journalism is not just a question of removing morals, but whether the profession can exist without them in the first place. 

The world cannot depend on a detached entity for its view on the world. Journalism is a career designed for human beings to share information with and educate the world, and if AI takes it over, it will eventually lead to the destruction of the field as a whole. 

There will be no more properly told news or actual opinion, just a mimic of what used to be there.