The ‘Wait-and-See’ Approach to AI: How Spanish Journalists Perceive Automation and its Impact on Newsrooms

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly integrated into newsrooms, raising questions about its implications for journalists’ professional identity. Although research has started to address these questions, more in-depth explorations are needed to understand journalists’ responses and perceptions moving forward. We conducted 25 semi-structured interviews examining perceptions of AI among Spanish journalists. Interviews took place between March and July 2023, representing a key turning point in the implementation of AI. The sample included journalists from different media reach and media types. Three key findings emerge. First, journalists adopt a wait-and-see stance, marked by cautious observation and limited proactive engagement. Second, they employ coping mechanisms to preserve their professional identity, including highlighting human-specific skills such as contextual interpretation and verification and anticipating that AI will affect colleagues or other roles more than themselves. Moreover, journalists increasingly reclaim subjectivity, which represents a traditionally downplayed aspect of their role. Third, journalists perceive AI’s current impact as partial and functional, limited to auxiliary tasks like transcription, translation, and data processing, rather than driving structural transformation. While some call for changes in journalism education, no clear consensus emerges. Taken together, these results offer a foundation for future comparative research on journalists’ evolving perceptions in response to AI.