Growing concerns about the use of AI in news and public information across the globe are confounding newsrooms as they maneuver to reach oversaturated audiences, a new report has found.

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s annual Digital News Report, which is based on a survey of nearly 100,000 people covering 47 countries, providing a snapshot of how news media platforms are struggling to maintain revenue when challenged by AI.

Generative AI tools are being used to provide summaries of world events and information, forcing newsrooms to make sacrifices and even adopt AI themselves to keep up with content demand.

Consumers, however, remains suspicious about using AI to generate news content, the report found, especially for more sensitive topics like politics.

Nearly two-thirds (63%) of UK respondents and 52% of US respondents said they would not be comfortable with news that was mostly produced with AI. The 2,000 representatives in each country did say that they were more comfortable with behind-the-scenes AI uses, such as AI tools that made the work of journalists more efficient.

Across the globe, concerns about false news content online increased by 3% from last year’s survey, with 59% of respondents admitting they were concerned.

The survey also showed that news organisations were struggling to get a paying audience, with only 17% of respondents across 20 countries paying for online news, a stagnant figure for the past three years.

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But AI is not the only challenge newsrooms are facing: social media has transformed how many people are consuming their news. Platforms like TikTok have taken ahold of younger generations who no longer turn to traditional news media.

In a survey of TikTok users who use the app for news, over half (57%) said they mostly follow individuals for news, while only about a third (34%) follow journalists or actual news brands.

Influencers are essentially taking over the news outlet market, and newsrooms will have to find a way to engage with users directly to keep up.