When news knows you: Rethinking journalism in the age of AI personalization

Artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized journalism. Currently, news organizations are collecting the data of news readers using news websites and applications to provide personalized news. Using machine learning tools, news organizations are storing and analyzing the data of the news readers and providing them with the news as well as advertisements of their preferences. This trend is not only increasing the engagement of the news readers but also decreasing the cost of advertisements to reach the consumers. Along with the benefits, there are many ethical challenges associated with the use of AI in news personalization. The authors interview journalists and news readers to learn about the opportunities and ethical challenges of using AI for news personalization from their perspectives. This paper concludes that consumers must be aware that their data is being used for some purposes, and there should be an option to grant or reject permission to provide the data.