Scrolling with (dis)comfort on AI-generated news: exploring group differences and the role of social media use in Portugal

Paulo Couraceiro; Miguel  Paisana; António  Vasconcelos

doi:10.26441/RC24.2-2025-4049

Autores/as

Paulo Couraceiro University of Minho (Portugal) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9063-2081
Miguel Paisana Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon (Portugal) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6316-8092
António Vasconcelos Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon (Portugal) https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9935-0953

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26441/RC24.2-2025-4049

Palabras clave:

Inteligencia Artificial, IA Generativa, Estudios de Audiencia, Redes Sociales, Alfabetización algorítmica, Aceptación de la IA, Consumo de Noticias, Periodismo

Resumen

Propósito. El creciente papel de la IA en la producción de noticias plantea cuestiones sobre la aceptación de la audiencia. Se exploran diferencias en los niveles de comodidad con noticias generadas por IA y asistidas por IA, considerando el efecto de las fuentes principales de noticias. Se plantea que el uso de redes sociales como principal acceso a las noticias puede influir en la comodidad con la IA debido a la familiaridad con la personalización algorítmica. Metodología. Se realizó un análisis cuantitativo con 2012 internautas portugueses. Se aplicaron pruebas no paramétricas para comparaciones de grupo y se creó un índice compuesto de comodidad con la IA para evaluar interacciones entre conocimiento de IA y fuente principal de noticias. Resultados y conclusiones. Se observa mayor comodidad cuando la IA actúa como asistente en vez de generadora de noticias. Existen diferencias significativas entre grupos según factores demográficos y confianza. Se identifican efectos en la comparación entre distintos niveles de conocimiento de IA y entre usuarios de redes sociales y de noticias tradicionales. Aunque no estadísticamente significativo, el efecto de interacción muestra que los usuarios con mayor conocimiento de IA que confían en redes sociales como su principal fuente de noticias presentan un aumento en la comodidad con las noticias generadas por IA. Contribución. Estos resultados resaltan la relevancia de la fuente principal de noticias en la aceptación de la IA en el periodismo, especialmente ante un entorno mediático cambiante, donde tecnologías como chatbots podrían desempeñar un papel clave en la distribución de noticias.

Métricas

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Biografía del autor/a

Paulo Couraceiro, University of Minho (Portugal)

Researcher at Communication and Society Research Centre (CECS) of the University of Minho and at OberCom – Observatory of Communication. Currently a PhD candidate in Communication Sciences at the University of Minho. Member of IBERIFIER – Iberian Digital Media Observatory, and young scholars’ representative and communication officer in the Audience and Reception Studies section of ECREA. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9063-2081, paulo.couraceiro@obercom.pt

Miguel Paisana, Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon (Portugal)

PhD in Communication Sciences, lecturer at Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon. Researcher at CIES-Iscte and OberCom – Observatory of Communication. Member of IBERIFIER – Iberian Digital Media Observatory and author of the Digital News Report Portugal. Main research topics of interest are the evolution of the media ecosystem, journalism and the changes associated to media formats, namely audio and podcasting. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6316-8092, miguel_paisana@iscte-iul.pt

António Vasconcelos, Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon (Portugal)

PhD Fellow in Communication Sciences at Iscte-IUL. Researcher at CIES-Iscte and OberCom – Observatory of Communication, previously involved in the projects EUMEPLAT – European Media Platforms: Assessing Positive and Negative Externalities for European Culture, and WellApp, in collaboration with ICNOVA. Currently, he is part of the Portuguese team of IBERIFIER – Iberian Digital Media Observatory. https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9935-0953, antonio_barros_vasconcelos@iscte-iul.pt

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