What Does the Public in Six Countries Think of Generative AI in News?

This is a report on the results of an online survey focused on understanding if and how people use generative artificial intelligence (AI), and what they think about its application in journalism and other areas of work and life across six countries (Argentina, Denmark, France, Japan, the UK, and the USA). ChatGPT is by far the most widely recognised generative AI product – around 50% of the online population in the six countries surveyed have heard of it. It is also by far the most widely used generative AI tool in the six countries surveyed. That being said, frequent use of ChatGPT is rare, with just 1% using it on a daily basis in Japan, rising to 2% in France and the UK, and 7% in the USA. Most of the public expect generative AI to have a large impact on virtually every sector of society in the next five years, ranging from 51% expecting a large impact on political parties to 66% for news media and 65% for science. But, there is significant variation in whether people expect different sectors to use AI responsibly – ranging from around half trusting scientists and healthcare professionals to do so, to less than one-third trusting social media companies, politicians, and news media to use generative AI responsibly. Very few people (8%) think that news produced by AI will be more worth paying for compared to news produced by humans.