Participatory guidelines to shape science journalism in the age of AI

Desciption

The recent expansion of generative AI has highlighted its potential along with the need for a careful examination of its future development. In science journalism, generative AI offers new opportunities but also generates challenges. Science journalists and communicators play a key role, not only because of the use they give but also because it is in their hands to objectively report about AI and actively get involved in promoting its responsible development. In the light of this, we have developed the “Principles for Good Practices on Science Communication and Artificial Intelligence”, a document that aims at guiding science journalists in their use of AI in their practice.

The seed that sparked the development of this document was a participatory workshop organized at the event “Campus Gutenberg 2023”, where a group of 10 speakers proposed 2-3 commitments each about the use of AI in science communication. Of a total of 26 commitments, a second participatory analysis reduced them to 16 sentences.

This new proposal was circulated through an online consultation with a working group of 25 people. The responses obtained were reanalyzed and re-shaped into a new proposal, which was then shared among science communicators in Spain and Latin America for a wider consultation. This process resulted in a participatory document co-created among 125 science communication professionals called “Principles for Good Practices on Science Communication and Artificial Intelligence.” The document is now available in an open repository.