Cornelia Brantner , Michael Karlsson , Joanne Kuai
{"title":"数字媒体生态系统中人工智能搜索引擎中的采购行为和新闻媒体的角色:比较五种语言的政治新闻检索","authors":"Cornelia Brantner , Michael Karlsson , Joanne Kuai","doi":"10.1016/j.telpol.2025.102952","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the role of news media in the context of generative AI-enhanced search engines, focusing on the 2024 Taiwan presidential election. Using Microsoft’s Copilot, we conducted a comparative analysis by prompting election news in five languages: English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, German, and Swedish. While Copilot uses mainly professional news media, provides quick access to synthesized information, and exhibits source transparency, it frequently creates misinformation and misattributes news sources. The analysis highlights variations in Copilot’s sourcing behavior, showing a strong reliance on English-language sources, particularly those from the UK and US, across different prompting languages. Such reliance raises concerns about the homogenization of information and the marginalization of regional perspectives. The study underscores the critical role and dilemma of news media, which, while serving as authoritative sources in democratic societies, must navigate an increasing AI-mediated information ecosystem to maintain autonomy vis-à-vis powerful technological infrastructures. By evaluating Copilot’s sourcing practices and misinformation prevalence, this research contributes to the discourse on AI’s impact on news dissemination, media diversity, and democratic processes. Specifically, we discuss the consequences of two approaches available to news media to prevent their content from being used without compensation: opting out of crawling (“platform counterbalancing”) or establishing partnerships with AI companies. Current regulatory efforts, including copyright reforms and the EU AI Act, fall short of safeguarding journalism or regulating AI. We propose policy and regulatory recommendations to improve transparency, factual correctness, accuracy in source attribution, and accountability in AI-generated content, supporting informed citizenship in the digital age.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":22290,"journal":{"name":"Telecommunications Policy","volume":"49 5","pages":"Article 102952"},"PeriodicalIF":5.9000,"publicationDate":"2025-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Sourcing behavior and the role of news media in AI-powered search engines in the digital media ecosystem: Comparing political news retrieval across five languages\",\"authors\":\"Cornelia Brantner , Michael Karlsson , Joanne Kuai\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.telpol.2025.102952\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><div>This study examines the role of news media in the context of generative AI-enhanced search engines, focusing on the 2024 Taiwan presidential election. Using Microsoft’s Copilot, we conducted a comparative analysis by prompting election news in five languages: English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, German, and Swedish. While Copilot uses mainly professional news media, provides quick access to synthesized information, and exhibits source transparency, it frequently creates misinformation and misattributes news sources. The analysis highlights variations in Copilot’s sourcing behavior, showing a strong reliance on English-language sources, particularly those from the UK and US, across different prompting languages. Such reliance raises concerns about the homogenization of information and the marginalization of regional perspectives. The study underscores the critical role and dilemma of news media, which, while serving as authoritative sources in democratic societies, must navigate an increasing AI-mediated information ecosystem to maintain autonomy vis-à-vis powerful technological infrastructures. By evaluating Copilot’s sourcing practices and misinformation prevalence, this research contributes to the discourse on AI’s impact on news dissemination, media diversity, and democratic processes. Specifically, we discuss the consequences of two approaches available to news media to prevent their content from being used without compensation: opting out of crawling (“platform counterbalancing”) or establishing partnerships with AI companies. Current regulatory efforts, including copyright reforms and the EU AI Act, fall short of safeguarding journalism or regulating AI. We propose policy and regulatory recommendations to improve transparency, factual correctness, accuracy in source attribution, and accountability in AI-generated content, supporting informed citizenship in the digital age.</div></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":22290,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Telecommunications Policy\",\"volume\":\"49 5\",\"pages\":\"Article 102952\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":5.9000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-04-04\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Telecommunications Policy\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"91\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596125000497\",\"RegionNum\":2,\"RegionCategory\":\"管理学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"COMMUNICATION\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Telecommunications Policy","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596125000497","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
Sourcing behavior and the role of news media in AI-powered search engines in the digital media ecosystem: Comparing political news retrieval across five languages
This study examines the role of news media in the context of generative AI-enhanced search engines, focusing on the 2024 Taiwan presidential election. Using Microsoft’s Copilot, we conducted a comparative analysis by prompting election news in five languages: English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, German, and Swedish. While Copilot uses mainly professional news media, provides quick access to synthesized information, and exhibits source transparency, it frequently creates misinformation and misattributes news sources. The analysis highlights variations in Copilot’s sourcing behavior, showing a strong reliance on English-language sources, particularly those from the UK and US, across different prompting languages. Such reliance raises concerns about the homogenization of information and the marginalization of regional perspectives. The study underscores the critical role and dilemma of news media, which, while serving as authoritative sources in democratic societies, must navigate an increasing AI-mediated information ecosystem to maintain autonomy vis-à-vis powerful technological infrastructures. By evaluating Copilot’s sourcing practices and misinformation prevalence, this research contributes to the discourse on AI’s impact on news dissemination, media diversity, and democratic processes. Specifically, we discuss the consequences of two approaches available to news media to prevent their content from being used without compensation: opting out of crawling (“platform counterbalancing”) or establishing partnerships with AI companies. Current regulatory efforts, including copyright reforms and the EU AI Act, fall short of safeguarding journalism or regulating AI. We propose policy and regulatory recommendations to improve transparency, factual correctness, accuracy in source attribution, and accountability in AI-generated content, supporting informed citizenship in the digital age.
期刊介绍:
Telecommunications Policy is concerned with the impact of digitalization in the economy and society. The journal is multidisciplinary, encompassing conceptual, theoretical and empirical studies, quantitative as well as qualitative. The scope includes policy, regulation, and governance; big data, artificial intelligence and data science; new and traditional sectors encompassing new media and the platform economy; management, entrepreneurship, innovation and use. Contributions may explore these topics at national, regional and international levels, including issues confronting both developed and developing countries. The papers accepted by the journal meet high standards of analytical rigor and policy relevance.