Join our one-day conference exploring how AI is changing journalism, featuring journalists and experts from the University of Oxford and beyond. The day includes panel discussions and lightning talks on AI coverage, how AI is being used for investigations and fact-checking, what AI means for wider society and much more. In-person attendance is by invitation only. Sign up to watch online.

Schedule

10:00 - Welcome

10:15 - Session1. The AI stories we tell – and the ones we don't. Artificial intelligence is one of the defining stories of our time. It is reshaping the knowledge ecosystem, and journalism is both reporting on these changes and navigating them directly as it experiments with how AI can support its own work. This session takes a step back to examine how the media is framing AI and how those narratives shape public understanding. Which angles dominate coverage? Which structural questions receive less attention? Are we asking enough about power and accountability, about infrastructure and labour, about climate impact? We will explore what more rigorous, evidence-based coverage could look like in practice, and what it might mean to get this story right.

• Joanna S. Kao (Senior Editor, Information and Artificial Intelligence, Pulitzer Centre), Niamh McIntyre (reporter on Big Tech team, TBIJ), Akshat Rathi, (senior climate reporter, Bloomberg). Chair: Federica Cherubini (Director of Leadership Development, RISJ)

11.15 - Research Insight Session 1. Generative AI and news report 2025: How people think about AI’s role in news and society. Discussions of AI in journalism frequently overlook what audiences make of the technology – and how they use it and think about it in the context of information and news. Drawing on recent survey research conducted by the Reuters Institute across various countries, this talk will provide insights into why and for what people use AI tools, which brands they trust, and how comfortable they are with AI-produced journalism. We will discuss public hopes, fears and expectations for AI—from daily life and work to the future of newsrooms—and what it means for journalists, policymakers and citizens.

• Felix Simon (Postdoctoral research fellow in AI, RISJ)

11:30 - Coffee break

11:45 - Session 2. Scaling the Story? AI as a tool for expanding investigative journalism. AI has become an investigative tool for processing massive datasets or accelerating document analysis. How is it reshaping the way journalists tell complex stories? This panel explores how reporters are using AI in real-world investigations, its limitations and risks, and whether we already have stories that we simply couldn’t report without AI.

• Elfredah Kevin-Alerechi (Founder, The Colonist Report), Ryan McNeill (Enterprise Editor, Geospatial Investigations, Reuters), Sondre Ulvund Solstad (Senior Data Journalist, The Economist). Chair: Tania Montalvo, Associate Director, Leadership Development Programmes

12:45 - Lunch break

13:45 - Research Insight Session 2. AI adoption by UK journalists and their newsrooms: surveying applications, approaches, and attitudes (15 mins).

• Richard Fletcher (Director of Research, RISJ)

14:00 - Session 3. How AI is transforming fact-checking. Is AI transforming the challenges faced by fact-checking organisations? Is it turbo-charging misinformation on digital platforms or are concerns about this technology greatly exaggerated? How are fact-checkers using AI to enhance their own work? Do they think AI is fundamentally transforming the information ecosystem? How are they planning to tackle these challenges? We’ll discuss these questions and more with the leaders of three top fact-checking organisations in Brazil, Britain and Spain.

• Clara Jiménez Cruz (CEO, Maldita and Chair, EFCSN), Tai Nalon (Founder, Aos Fatos), Chris Morris (CEO, Full Fact). Chair: Eduardo Suárez (Director of Editorial, RISJ)

15:00 - Coffee break

15:15 - Session 4. AI and society: taking stock and ways forward. What where the major development in the AI space over the last year? Where is AI going and what should we make of the development, adoption, and regulation of the the technology across countries – not just in terms of what different stakeholders want, but also with a view to the wider geo-political struggle in which AI is embedded. What can recent developments on the technical front tell us about where the journey might be going? And which steps need to be taken by whom to ensure that the technology is safe and works for the many and not just the few? This panel will bring together four experts from different domains to sketch out answer to these questions.

• Keegan McBride (Senior Policy Advisor, Emerging Technology & Geopolitics, Tony Blair Institute), Max Kasy (Professor of Economics, University of Oxford), Natali Helberger (Professor in Law and Digital Technology, University of Amsterdam), Carina Prunkl from Inria. Chair: Felix Simon (Postdoctoral research fellow in AI, RISJ)