Weighing the Promise and Perils of AI in Journalism

Artificial intelligence is reshaping how news is reported, how information spreads, and how society make sense of the world — and the institutions meant to govern it are still catching up. What does that mean for journalism and the people who practice it?

On February 27, 2026, the Knight Science Journalism Program convened a panel of reporters and researchers working at the intersection of AI, journalism, and democracy to grapple with that question. Panelists discussed what the rise of AI means for free speech, public discourse, and the future of an informed citizenry.

“AI is really a topic everyone wants to talk about — especially on this campus,” said Knight Science Journalism Program director Usha Lee McFarling, who moderated the panel. “Journalists really need to talk about this.”

The four panelists brought to the conversation an array of perspectives on AI.

Khari Johnson, a tech reporter at CalMatters and guest speaker with the Pulitzer Center’s AI Accountability Network, has been covering artificial intelligence since 2016, with a focus on how AI policy affects human rights and how the technology is being deployed in policing, schools, and government.

Lam Thuy Vo, an investigative reporter at Documented and associate professor of data journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, also works with the Pulitzer Center’s AI Accountability Network and has led AI literacy trainings for newsrooms across the U.S., Asia, Latin America, and Europe.

Nataliya Kos’myna, a research scientist at the MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces group and visiting faculty researcher at Google, brought a neuroscience lens to the conversation, having spent 16 years designing brain-computer interfaces and having helped UNESCO draft its landmark Recommendation on the Ethics of Neurotechnology.

John Wihbey, director of theAI-Media Strategies Lab at Northeastern University and author of “Governing Babel: The Debate over Social Media Platforms and Free Speech — and What Comes Next,” rounded out the panel with his research on how AI is transforming both traditional and social media and mediating public access to information.

See the full recording of the panel discussion at the top of this page.