Artificial intelligence in Russian mass media: instruments, problems, and threats

Section: Artificial Intelligence in Media and Communication Studies

The article presents the findings of a study on the use of artificial intelligence (hereinafter AI) by Russian federal-level media organizations. The research involved in-depth semi-structured interviews with 71 representatives from key editorial offices of various media types (television, radio, print, news agencies, and online media). The interview guide was designed to take into account the current use and regulation of new technologies in editorial operations, challenges faced by media in using AI, feedback from editorial staff on the future of journalism considering AI development, and changes in professional standards. The research findings indicate that, unlike foreign practices of using new technologies, Russian media editorial offices use AI mainly to solve routine tasks, thereby speeding up and optimizing their employees‘ work. In doing so, new technologies are often “promoted” by journalists rather than media management. Almost all respondents believe that AI will not replace journalists’ work but will only make some adjustments to the work of journalists. Alongside this, some newsrooms express their concerns about the new technologies‘ integration into their future editorial practices, including the workflow acceleration, which may adversely affect the journalists‘ psychological state; the potential for a large number of standardized materials; growth of unreliable information; and the possible redundancy of some specialties.

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To cite this article: Zuykina K. L., Razumova D. V.  (2025) Tekhnologii iskusstvennogo intellekta v rabote rossiyskikh SMI: instrumenty, problemy i ugrozy [Artificial intelligence in Russian mass media: instruments, problems, and threats]. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seriya 10. Zhurnalistika 5: 79–103. DOI: 10.55959/msu.vestnik.journ.5.2025.79103