Artificial Intelligence in the Russian Media and Journalism: The Issue of Ethics

Abstract

Artificial intelligence is gradually being integrated into the work of Russian media and journalists, spreading to various areas of media practices, in particular, information search and fact-checking; speech, sound, and image recognition; prioritization of topics, creation of texts, and their targeted distribution, etc. Such Russian media companies as Interfax, Sports.ru, RIA Novosti are regarded as leaders in this field. With the development of AI, the professional media community inevitably faces new challenges in the ethical regulation of media practices, their correlation with the daily moral issues for editors and journalists. Based on the rich history of foreign and domestic discourse concerning the philosophical and ethical problems of artificial intelligence, as well as analyzing the codes of ethical regulation of AI developments in different countries, the authors highlight the main provisions that need to be taken into account in the process of developing ethical standards for the use of artificial intelligence in media and journalism. The main issues that require mandatory codification include: preservation of the right of the audience to receive information about the interaction with artificial intelligence and transparency in this area on the part of editorial offices; a ban on the transfer of powers to artificial intelligence in matters of moral choice when preparing media content; joint responsibility of the editorial board and software developers for the consequences of the work of artificial intelligence systems, determining the range of potential topics for which the use of artificial intelligence is ethically unacceptable, etc. These recommendations are an invitation to a discussion in media and academic communities about the need for ethical codification of the use of artificial intelligence technologies in media and journalism.