The deskilling dilemma: ChatGPT, pedagogical obligation, and the paradox of journalism education

IF 6.1 Q2 COMPUTER SCIENCE, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

AI & Society Pub Date : 2026-06-08 DOI:10.1007/s00146-026-03139-x

Md. Sazzad Hossain, David Dowling

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Abstract

This paper critically examines the perceived impact of ChatGPT on journalism and mass communication education in the United States, with particular attention to how the technology is framed by instructors within the field. Using a survey of 91 educators, the study explores perceived threats, benefits, and pedagogical adaptations related to generative AI. Drawing on critical perspectives from science and technology studies, the paper interrogates the notion of “disruption” in journalism education, analyzing how AI tools are reshaping assumptions about authorship, expertise, and the future of media labor. While some educators see promise in using ChatGPT for writing assistance or curriculum augmentation, others express concern over misinformation, plagiarism, and the deskilling of critical journalistic judgment. This paradoxical tension exists between acknowledgment of the responsibility to teach proper use of ChatGPT, given its central role in current journalistic production practice, and acute awareness of how overreliance on generative AI risks not only deskilling but also eroding the expressive and epistemic labor central to journalism. Based on Giroux’s critical pedagogy and Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation, the study calls for a reflexive, ethically grounded approach to integrating generative AI, informed by a broader understanding of technological governance and academic labor in the digital university.

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去技能的困境：聊天技术、教学义务和新闻教育的悖论

本文批判性地考察了ChatGPT对美国新闻和大众传播教育的感知影响，特别关注该领域的教师如何构建该技术。通过对91名教育工作者的调查，该研究探讨了与生成式人工智能相关的感知威胁、好处和教学适应。本文借鉴科学和技术研究的批判性观点，对新闻教育中的“颠覆”概念进行了质疑，分析了人工智能工具如何重塑对作者身份、专业知识和媒体劳动未来的假设。虽然一些教育工作者看到了使用ChatGPT作为写作辅助或课程扩充的前景，但其他人则对错误信息、剽窃和批判性新闻判断的技能下降表示担忧。鉴于ChatGPT在当前新闻生产实践中的核心作用，一方面承认教授正确使用ChatGPT的责任，另一方面又敏锐地意识到，过度依赖生成式人工智能不仅会降低技能，还会侵蚀新闻业核心的表达和认知劳动，这两者之间存在着矛盾的张力。基于吉鲁的批判教学法和克里斯滕森的颠覆性创新理论，该研究呼吁采用一种反思性的、基于伦理的方法来整合生成式人工智能，同时对数字大学的技术治理和学术劳动有更广泛的理解。

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来源期刊

AI & Society COMPUTER SCIENCE, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE-

CiteScore

8.00

自引率

20.00%

发文量

257

期刊介绍： AI & Society: Knowledge, Culture and Communication, is an International Journal publishing refereed scholarly articles, position papers, debates, short communications, and reviews of books and other publications. Established in 1987, the Journal focuses on societal issues including the design, use, management, and policy of information, communications and new media technologies, with a particular emphasis on cultural, social, cognitive, economic, ethical, and philosophical implications. AI & Society has a broad scope and is strongly interdisciplinary. We welcome contributions and participation from researchers and practitioners in a variety of fields including information technologies, humanities, social sciences, arts and sciences. This includes broader societal and cultural impacts, for example on governance, security, sustainability, identity, inclusion, working life, corporate and community welfare, and well-being of people. Co-authored articles from diverse disciplines are encouraged. AI & Society seeks to promote an understanding of the potential, transformative impacts and critical consequences of pervasive technology for societies. Technological innovations, including new sciences such as biotech, nanotech and neuroscience, offer a great potential for societies, but also pose existential risk. Rooted in the human-centred tradition of science and technology, the Journal acts as a catalyst, promoter and facilitator of engagement with diversity of voices and over-the-horizon issues of arts, science, technology and society. AI & Society expects that, in keeping with the ethos of the journal, submissions should provide a substantial and explicit argument on the societal dimension of research, particularly the benefits, impacts and implications for society. This may include factors such as trust, biases, privacy, reliability, responsibility, and competence of AI systems. Such arguments should be validated by critical comment on current research in this area. Curmudgeon Corner will retain its opinionated ethos. The journal is in three parts: a) full length scholarly articles; b) strategic ideas, critical reviews and reflections; c) Student Forum is for emerging researchers and new voices to communicate their ongoing research to the wider academic community, mentored by the Journal Advisory Board; Book Reviews and News; Curmudgeon Corner for the opinionated. Papers in the Original Section may include original papers, which are underpinned by theoretical, methodological, conceptual or philosophical foundations. The Open Forum Section may include strategic ideas, critical reviews and potential implications for society of current research. Network Research Section papers make substantial contributions to theoretical and methodological foundations within societal domains. These will be multi-authored papers that include a summary of the contribution of each author to the paper. Original, Open Forum and Network papers are peer reviewed. The Student Forum Section may include theoretical, methodological, and application orientations of ongoing research including case studies, as well as, contextual action research experiences. Papers in this section are normally single-authored and are also formally reviewed. Curmudgeon Corner is a short opinionated column on trends in technology, arts, science and society, commenting emphatically on issues of concern to the research community and wider society. Normal word length: Original and Network Articles 10k, Open Forum 8k, Student Forum 6k, Curmudgeon 1k. The exception to the co-author limit of Original and Open Forum (4), Network (10), Student (3) and Curmudgeon (2) articles will be considered for their special contributions. Please do not send your submissions by email but use the "Submit manuscript" button. NOTE TO AUTHORS: The Journal expects its authors to include, in their submissions: a) An acknowledgement of the pre-accept/pre-publication versions of their manuscripts on non-commercial and academic sites. b) Images: obtain permissions from the copyright holder/original sources. c) Formal permission from their ethics committees when conducting studies with people.