Abstract: A report on the findings of three empirical studies of news coverage of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The initial research involved systematic examination of news outlet coverage of AI by mainstream UK news outlets, chosen to represent a variety of political leanings – the Telegraph, Mail Online (and the Daily Mail), the Guardian, HuffPost, the BBC and the UK edition of Wired magazine. The main conclusion of the study is that media coverage of AI is dominated by the industry itself.

The presentation draws on the research to interrogate the current state of the public conversation about artificial intelligence in British news media.

About the speaker: Dr. J. Scott Brennen is a communication scholar and a postdoctoral research fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and the Oxford Internet Institute. His work investigates how changing media structures, cultures, and technologies are shaping the production and circulation of scientific information and scientific misinformation. He currently works on the Oxford Martin Programme on Misinformation, Science, and Media, which examines the interplay between scientific misinformation, news coverage, and social media platforms for the public understanding of science and technological innovation.