Issue 37, Winter/Spring 2024

https://doi.org/10.70090/ACMB24ME

Introduction

The implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) into our daily lives is rapidly spreading. AI systems are now capable of handling multiple tasks, making decisions, as well as managing work that was previously the domain of skilled experts. The rapid propagation of AI has led to significant improvements across various economic sectors. More specifically, media and electronic press companies have undergone remarkable transformations because of scientific research, technological advancements, and the rise of AI. These advancements provide the capacity to upgrade the speed, quality, and precision of generated content and streamline content optimization. AI integration in media production marks a transformative era by offering unprecedented opportunities for efficiency, creativity, and audience engagement. However, this technological evolution presents novel challenges that demand thoughtful consideration, which is particularly true in media and news production. This research seeks to explore the possibility of exploiting the potential of AI for innovation, while addressing its ethical implications and related risks in the Moroccan electronic press.

Research Problem

While Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems like an ally for innovation and efficiency as it relates to the Moroccan electronic press, its implementation raises significant concerns that necessitate a critical examination of the ethical and professional risks posed to both journalists and media companies. This paper endeavors to explore the impact of AI on the Moroccan electronic press with a particular focus on the challenges associated with achieving a harmonious balance between maximizing its benefits and limiting its potential risks.

Research Questions

1. What are the main uses and the specific advantages of AI implementation in electronic press productions in Morocco?
2. What is the impact of integrating AI technologies into the press production processes and how does it affect the abilities of journalists in Morocco?
3. Could AI lead to job losses in Moroccan electronic press? If so, then how can companies help employees learn new skills to adapt?
4. What challenges confront the integration of AI in the electronic press industry and what ethical issues might arise from the use of AI by journalists in Morocco?
5. How can Moroccan electronic press companies leverage AI for better results while minimizing potential risks?

Objectives of the Study

This examination aims to explore the research questions and provide the perspectives of journalists in Morocco as it pertains to navigating the difficulties and maximizing the benefits of AI integration. By tackling these concerns, the electronic press sector can actively mold a future that embraces innovation while upholding fundamental principles, such as transparency, ethical behavior, and meaningful interaction with audiences. The primary goals of this paper are to examine the potential challenges and benefits of this transformative technology with a specific focus on its implications within the electronic press in Morocco. To understand and elaborate how Moroccan journalists utilize AI and to provide an overview of the ethical considerations surrounding the utilization of AI.

A Brief History of Press Production in Morocco

The printing press was introduced to Morocco in 1846 (Baida 1996). During this initial stage of press production, printing operations were surveilled and operated by local authorities. The entry of the French Protectorate in 1912 represented a novel era of journalism in Morocco. This period witnessed a thriving press that was heavily monitored by authorities, which is often referred to as the monopoly era (1870-1960). This ultimately gave way to the partisan press, which dominated until the 1990s when liberalization led to the establishment of a more independent press.

Subsequently, the advent of the internet in Morocco gradually began to reach the public, which occurred in and around 1994. Expansion of access to the internet occurred despite technical barriers, economic obstacles, and regional disparities. This brought significant changes related to media as the internet propagated throughout the country, which particularly effected news production. This shift represented a huge transformation as digital information platforms, forums, and blogs provided new possibilities for sharing information and communicating. More specifically, this digital change radically altered news production and media consumption patterns in Morocco (Benchenna and Marchetti 2021).

The Emergence and Evolution of Electronic Journalism in Morocco

During the late 1990s, the online press in Morocco experienced two distinct stages of growth. Initially, websites primarily served as digital replicas of traditional print newspapers and magazines, which is a concept Benghozi and Lyubareva (2013) refer to as ‘pro forma digitality’. Concurrently, telecommunications companies in Morocco—like Menara and Inwi—introduced news portals that focused on aggregating content from print sources (Benchenna and Marchetti 2021). This trend of content aggregation persisted throughout the decade as online tools provided the capacity to repost articles without consent. Local online media projects flourished in the mid-2000s, as a focus was placed on community involvement. In 2007, a few of these aggregators transitioned into ‘pure play’ platforms, for example, Yabiladi and Hespress. In 2010 and 2011, there was a notable proliferation of ‘pure play’ outlets, which were primarily in Arabic. These include Le360.ma, Akhbarona.com, Goud.ma, Lesiteinfo.com, Barlamane.com, among others (Benchenna and Marchetti 2021). This was followed by ChoufTV in 2012. In the same year the Ministry of Communication in Morocco provided statistics on the number of digital newspapers, which exceeded five hundred.

Ipsos partnered with Groupement des Annonceurs du Maroc (GAM) to conduct a study in 2023 to gauge the spread of the electronic press in Morocco and its impact on financial revenue. The study, titled Digital Trends Morocco – Edition 2023, revealed the growing interest of marketing and communication directors in the still burgeoning electronic press. More specifically, seventeen percent of marketing budgets were allocated to digital outlets. Additionally, 56 percent of those surveyed indicated they planned to increase their budget by nineteen percent on average (Ipsos with Groupement des Annonceurs du Maroc 2023). The latest statistics on technology usage in Morocco provides additional insight into the potential for growth and influence of the electronic press. This is especially pertinent as it relates to smartphones, laptops, and internet access rates. The Survey on Access and Usage of Information and Communication Technologies by Individuals and Households 2022-2023, which was conducted by the National Agency for the Regulation of Telecommunications (ANRT) in Morocco, revealed:

• Seven out of ten households own a computer and/or a tablet. Meanwhile, the laptop remains most prevalent.
• Internet access is widespread as 87 percent of Moroccan households are connected.
• 3 percent of the Moroccan population aged five years and older owns a smartphone.
• The internet has democratized information access, which makes it possible for anyone with a connection to access vast amounts of information on diverse topics. Furthermore, news can disseminate more swiftly through the internet and social media platforms, which facilitates the capacity to instantly disseminate current affairs around the world.
• The power of internet in combination with desire exhibited by citizens to have access to news strongly indicates that the audience for electronic media is growing. Simultaneously, this has rendered it easier for more Moroccans to share and access information despite time and space obstacles.
• In the early 21st century, social media became a potent instrument for individuals to express themselves, connect with others, and share their ideas with ease. This development breathed new life into Moroccan electronic press, which provided a new platform to reach larger audiences, attract more followers, and share information with the most active users of these platforms—the youth.

The proliferation of these novel digital tools in Morocco resulted in the electronic press outperforming traditional media outlets. Moreover, the widespread adoption of electronic media has a profound impact on society and culture (Unger, Soto, and Leventhal 2016). Considering these realities, we conducted a comparison between the eminent print and electronic press in Morocco. This was achieved by examining sales figures for print media, according to the latest report from the Organisme de justification de diffusion (OJD Morocco), which indicates that Al Massae is the most widely read Arabic-language daily in the kingdom and sells an average of 108,509 copies per day. These numbers seemingly pale in comparison to the online ‘pure play’ platform Hespress, which is ranked as the ninth most popular website and occupies the top position among digital news and media publishers in Morocco. The site boosts over 650,000 daily visits according to global web analytics company Similarweb (2024).

Definitions of Artificial Intelligence

It is necessary to define various concepts as it pertains to AI prior to analyzing its pros and cons. More specifically, comprehending the technicality and functionality of AI is crucial to use it more effectively. As such, we must first establish a definition for AI. Artificial Intelligence is a branch of computer science dedicated to creating intelligent machines that can accomplish a range of tasks that was traditionally the domain of humans. These tasks operate at various levels of complexity. As it pertains to content creation, AI is used to automate and enhance specific aspects of the content generation process.

According to McCarthy (2004), artificial intelligence is “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines”. Predicated on this definition, AI involves a plethora of scientific principles and theories derived from various branches of sciences. Moreover, research into AI draws upon a myriad of academic disciplines, which include computer science, mathematics, engineering, and others. These different areas of research are involved throughout design to development of AI, as well as during the implementation phase. This is necessary to create machines that can mimic or replicate intelligent human-like behavior and achieve different tasks and make decisions. More recently, Russell and Norvig (2010) defined AI research as the study of intelligent agents. In this context, an agent is a software system that receives information from its surroundings and uses actuators to act based on this information. The intelligence aspect of agents refers to their ability to choose ostensibly optimal actions that are aimed to achieve the best results. Thus, AI is an algorithmic machine that behaves in manner that is perceived by users as intelligent (McCarthy 2004). As such, these machines are designed to imitate human behaviors by replicating potential actions and decisions within a given context. The process involves programming AI to incorporate a level of intelligence that enables them to accomplish tasks in a manner like humans. Essentially, AI machines are ostensibly programmed to mimic human-like actions and decision-making processes by utilizing programmed intelligence to enhance their task performance within specific contexts. More recently, Struhl defined AI as “anything a machine does to respond to its environment to maximize its chances of success” (2017, 4). This definition focuses on both adaptive and result-oriented characters of AI. This involves a wide range of activities and actions performed by machines, as well as their adaptive behaviors, and emphasizes their ability to interact with and adapt to its environment. Thus, AI is programmed to sense and interpret data extracted from its environment with the goal of making decisions with the best possible results.

However, we don’t pretend to have an exhaustive definition of AI because each specialist will define it based on their point of view and field of expertise. Despite this obstacle, the previous definitions capture the essence of AI as a discipline that utilizes a wide range of scientific principles and engineering practices to develop machines with the ability of adapting to their environment. This is achieved by optimizing decision-making that is informed by received data while continuously improving their performance over time. Another way of perceiving AI is through the framework of human characteristics, which Scherer defines as “consciousness, self-awareness, language use, ability to learn, to abstract, to adapt, and  to reason” (2016, 360). Clearly the definition of AI is not concretely settled. According to Scherer, this difficulty lies in the ambiguity of the term intelligence. Since we recognize intelligence in ourselves, we also tend to associate our personal understanding of it to AI, which includes human characteristics. Scherer attempts to address this issue by indicating the early definition of AI “often tied the concept of intelligence to the ability to perform particular intellectual tasks. As a result, concepts of what constitutes artificial intelligence have shifted over time” (Scherer 2016, 360).

AI in the Electronic Press and Content Creation Industries

Media organizations increasingly rely on robot journalists to uncover trends and insights in big data by analyzing vast databases and creating narratives absent human intervention. For the most part, computational journalism research focuses on how computers can be used to collect large amounts data from various sources and analyze it to identify patterns and themes before generating news content. This includes the creation of articles, videos, or graphics, among other possible applications.

Evolution of AI Journalism

• 2002: Google News unveils a robot editor that uses an algorithm to independently select and showcase lead stories on its homepage (Kurtz 2002).
• 2007: Japan unveils a telepresence mobile robot, which is a 3D robot journalist designed for self-directed exploration, news gathering, and article composition (Youssef et al. 2023).
• 2010: Narrative Science is the use of algorithms to assist human journalists in story creation by automating narrative generation of content (Dalgali and Crowston 2021).
• 2015: The Chinese conglomerate Tencent releases Dreamwriter, which is an AI algorithm proficient in crafting one-thousand-word articles within a minute (Zhou 2019).
• 2016: The Washington Post deploys an AI algorithm named Heliograf that can discern pertinent data, align it within pre-configured templates, and disseminate these articles across various platforms, which highlight a potential synergistic partnership between human and machine.
• Present: Advanced analytics and seamless AI integration has begun as news agencies employ AI and machine learning to streamline report generation, interactive data visualizations, and provide real-time updates. Bruno (2014) has speculated that “future media will consist largely of content produced by artificial intelligence”.

Despite these advances, AI automation is not strictly limited to content creation as it is embedded within many different industries, which includes manufacturing as well as others. This integration of AI into industry is especially prevalent when jobs consist of repetitive tasks. Due to the myriad of simple recuring tasks in manufacturing, AI-driven robots could easily replace employees in this industry. However, this is not exactly like AI in the media industry where automated content creation is likely to be a just a note in the symphony of the production processes. This is because a lot of added value in media creation consists of producing complex content, which requires judgment, interpretation, analyzing, creativity, and efficient communication. Therefore, professionals will likely continue to work alongside, and not be overshadowed by algorithms, for years to come. Yet, it is very beneficial for media professionals to rely on AI to complete simple tasks to save time and focus on more complicated undertakings.This comingling of man and machine within both media and communication takes many shapes, including automated decision-making and content generation technologies. Yet, there are some examples of the integration of AI throughout the entire process of news production, which includes:

• Correction and transcription services (Marr 2018)
• Au­tomated content production (Digiday 2019)
• Facts and potential fake news (Cassauwers 2019)
• Machine translation of text (ADAPT Center 2021)
• Data-driven tools to personalize users news feeds and recommend other content (Warren 2021)

AI is employed within journalism and media to free journalists from preforming routine and repetitive tasks, which may enable them to produce high-value content, such as data journalism or solutions-oriented journalism (St-Germain and White 2021). Currently, AI is effective at discerning what media consumers want, but it is not yet as effective at creating content. AI disseminates content to targeted consumers through suggesting, reviewing, and using data—such cookies and user profiles—to provide relevant content for users. As such, AI makes it simpler for people to discover the media they're interested in.

Gaps in the Literature

Most existing literature predominantly examines AI from a technical standpoint while discussing its advantages and potential drawbacks. However, there is a lack of comprehensive research focusing on the nuanced implications of AI integration within the media landscape, which is particularly true as it pertains to the Arab context in Morocco. Existing studies tend to concentrate on the specific services that facilitate mundane journalistic tasks without further analyzing the implications of AI applications and their potential risks. Specifically, there is a noticeable absence of scholarly work investigating the impact of AI on media within Morocco. Given the significant use of AI in Morocco and the advancements in electronic media, there is a critical need to understand the implications of AI adoption on media practices, audience engagement, and content creation strategies.

Research Approach

Our study aims to fill this knowledge gap by conducting a thorough analysis of AI services relevant to electronic press operations in Morocco. This research will examine over twenty popular AI tools, which includes both freemium and premium options. This exploration aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of available resources for media professionals in Morocco. Further, our research delves into the intricacies of AI integration within electronic press companies in Morocco through investigating financial investments into AI tools. Finally, our study assesses the potential advantages and risks associated with the widespread adoption of AI by electronic press professionals in Morocco. Our study aims to provide valuable insights into the multifaceted dynamics of AI integration in electronic press within Morocco by addressing these gaps in the literature and adopting a comprehensive research approach.

AI Services Used in the Electronic Press and Content Industry

To enhance our understanding of AI services used in electronic press production— specifically written, audio and video contents—we conducted a thorough exploration of various AI-powered content creation tools. This involved a comprehensive search of twenty well-known AI platforms. This was done to identify the diverse ways AI can assist media professionals and streamline their tasks. The AI tools list consulted for this purpose will remain anonymous to avoid marketing.

The Use of AI in Electronic Press Production Workflows

We tried to personally use every single tool on the list to examine their full potential to address the needs of media professionals in Morocco. For this purpose, we split the various options into different categories of services. 

Information search and preproduction services

• AI Fact-checking
• Intelligent search and extraction features

Content generating services

• Automation of writing articles, generating reports, and documents
• Translation in different languages
• Paraphrasing and correcting errors
• AI article summaries
• AI-optimized writing assistance

Content analyzing and statistics

• Data analyzing and insights generating
• Semantic analysis and language understanding
• Words as vectors representation
• Filtering files from the archives
• KPI analyze and statistics extraction
• Document comparison and extraction of key information 

Marketing services

• Personalized news
• Automation of keyword research
• SEO optimization
• Content customization based on a user’s cookies
• Title generating
• Profiling: very useful for children-oriented content

AI image and video editing

• Image and video editing
• Image generation
• Image suggestions to illustrate articles
• Enhanced backgrounds generators
• Unwanted elements removal from images
• Image recognition and visual analysis
• transforming scripts into videos

AI voice creation and audio transcription

• Voice off generators
• Transcription of audio and video in multiple languages
• Text-to-speech conversion
• Subtitles generation

Social media services

• Comment moderation
• Chatbot programming
• Writing posts for social media

Methodology

The research relied on a questionnaire, which was distributed to journalists employed in various electronic press companies in Morocco. The questionnaire maintains the anonymity of participants due to a cultural discretion that current exists in Morocco as it pertains to AI usage in media. Prior to conducting the research, we were uncertain as to the extent media companies allow the use of AI or if companies were even willing to admit it publicly. The questionnaire features a mix of closed and open-ended questions, which include multiple-choice questions to generate precise statistics, while open-ended questions aim at gaining insights into AI-related practices with a more detail response. The selection of participants was based on their roles and professional profiles. We focused on journalists in media companies, particularly those in electronic press companies. The study aims to explore to what extent these professionals depend on AI in the completion of their daily tasks. Furthermore, the study measures the attitude of different electronic press companies as it pertains to the use of AI by employees. More specifically, are companies supportive or non-supportive of AI integration and how much have they invested in AI tools (premium, freemium, or internal development). Lastly, we endeavor to ascertain if these companies had organized training sessions for journalists to use AI safely and effectively. The questionnaire will also address the inventory of commonly used AI services, which is based on participant responses. These responses provide an overview and classification of the most frequently used services and the extent of their usage. Lastly, the questionnaire will investigate how participants strike a balance between relying on AI and preserving the essence of human creativity in content creation. It will explore the strategies employed for continuous upskilling, which considers ethical concerns, potential long-term consequences, and risks for professionals associated with the increased reliance on AI.

Main Survey Questions (for the complete list of questions, please visit: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1rcpXBD3sczYxfHwxASNRyhEfPr9H_jb0D0qwC_o5vxg/prefill)

The survey was structured into two main segments to ensure an exhaustive overview of the impact of AI on electronic media companies, which allowed a detailed analysis.

Journalists individual Aspects

• Inventory of utilized AI tools and services
• Frequency and regularity of the AI use
• Perceived benefits and satisfaction of AI use
• Perceived concerns and potential AI risks

Media Company Aspects

• Degree of receptivity and openness to AI
• Training of Journalists using AI tools
• Ethical guidelines of AI use
• Media Investment in AI Toolset
• Continuous evaluation and Improvement of AI

Demographic Profile of Participants

Age - The age of the respondents ranged from 25 to 54 years old with a notable prevalence of younger individuals aged between 25 and 34 years, which constitutes 44 percent of the sample cohort.

Gender Composition - Parity was nearly achieved as it pertains to the gender distribution of the respondents, which consists of 55.6 percent of males and 44.4 percent of female.

Participant Count - The survey was disseminated among a sample of one hundred Moroccan journalists. However, the obtained response rate amounted to approximately forty percent.

Participant profiling - The obtained data revealed that fifty percent are journalists engaged in electronic press in Morocco. Whereas the remaining fifty percent are journalists involved in the broader media domain, which incorporates both written and audiovisual content creation.

Educational level - The educational level of respondents ranged from obtaining a bachelor’s degree to Ph.D. students.

Relevant Findings Summary

Part One: Journalists Individual Aspects 

AI Usage in Content Creation:

• Information retrieval is the most common use for AI (eighty percent), followed by translation and synthesis (sixty percent), automatic text generation (fifty percent), brainstorming (forty percent), and data analysis (thirty percent). Less common is using AI for voiceover, speech transcription, image editing (twenty percent), as well as video editing and SEO (twenty percent respectively).

Impact on Content Quality and Generation Speed:

• A notable ninety percent reported either considerable (forty percent) or slight (fifty percent) improvement in content generation speed because of using AI. Only ten percent expressed concerns due to AI slowing their speed of content generation.
• One hundred percent of the sample expressed satisfaction with the quality of AI-generated content. None of the sample reporting dissatisfaction.

Approaches to Reviewing AI Content:

• Most journalists (seventy percent) prefer to review and amend AI-generated content, while thirty percent choose this approach based on specific context and situations, and finally no one reported a preference for trusting AI without correction.

Integration in Journalism Workflow:

• Half of the journalists use AI in pre-production (fifty percent), while thirty percent use it throughout the process, and twenty percent in post-production.

Comparison Between AI Tools and Journalists' Skills:

• AI tools are considered better at generating written content (seventy percent), equal in translation and synthesis skills (sixty percent) as well as data analysis (seventy percent). However, sixty percent perceive humans are more effective at handling emotionally intelligent content.

Impact on Job Security:

• While none of the sample reported zero risk, twenty percent see a bigger risk, fifty recognize a significant risk, and thirty percent perceive a moderate risk to job security due to AI integration.

Perception of AI's Impact on Creativity:

• Sixty percent believe AI reinforces creativity, while thirty percent believes it limits creativity, and ten percent are uncertain.

Part Two: E-press Company Aspects

Company's Receptivity to AI:

• The majority (66.7 percent) reported their companies actively encourage AI usage and none of the respondents reporting their company actively prohibiting it.

Media Investment in AI Toolsets:

• Most of the respondents rely on freemium or open-source AI tools (seventy percent), while only a minority invest in paid tools (twenty percent), and none invest in internal development of AI tools. The remaining ten percent do not use any AI tools.

Communication on AI tools utilization:

• While half of journalists reported their companies are open to using AI, the other half indicated there is a complete absence of communication on the topic.

Investment in Ethical Guidelines and Trainings:

• While forty percent indicated there is active development of ethical guidelines and training programs as it pertains to AI usage, the other sixty percent reported a complete absence of such initiatives in their companies.

Discussion of the most relevant findings 

Part one: Journalists Individual Aspects  

AI Most Used Services by Electronic Press Journalists

The dominance of information retrieval, translation, synthesis, and automatic text generation highlights the prominent role of AI in simplifying the process of gathering information, overcoming language barriers, and a growing reliance on AI to create content. The use of AI to complete mundane (non-complex) tasks points to the role of AI in freeing journalists from routine tasks and enabling them to focus on higher-level activities that require human intervention and high concentration/intellectual/creative capacities. This aligns with the other findings, which reveal a limited application of AI in data analysis (thirty percent). This highlights the need for deeper journalistic interpretation, particularly when human input is essential for adding value and contextualizing information. As for the less common use of AI in voiceover, speech transcription, image and video editing, as well as SEO, this can be attributed to the nature of job division within electronic press companies in Morocco. Typically, these tasks are delegated to specialized technicians who assist journalists, which allow journalists to concentrate on their core mission.

Perceived Impact of AI on Speed and Quality of Generated Content

The findings provide valuable insights into the perceived quality and speed of journalistic content generated by AI systems. These findings point to an overall satisfaction with AI output. The overwhelmingly positive sentiment confirms AI’s ability to meet the expectations of most journalists. This ultimately contributes to the optimization of journalistic practices and organizational performance as none of the respondent’s reported dissatisfaction. This absence of dissatisfaction among surveyed journalists indicates a significant lack of concerns regarding content quality. This further reinforces the overall positive perception of AI-generated content within journalistic enterprises, which points toward an increasing likelihood of AI integration in more media companies.

Reviewing Content Generated by AI

Most journalists prefer to review and adjust AI-generated content to ensure quality. This cautious approach underscores the importance of human oversight in utilizing AI for content generation. While there is a widespread preference for post-AI generation review and adjustment, there is also a notable hesitation and lack of trust in raw AI outputs. This is particularly significant in an industry where information and credibility are paramount, as even minor mistakes can damage a company's reputation. This awareness among journalists highlights the inevitability of human intervention to ensure accuracy, relevance, and quality of AI-generated content. The prevalence of this conservative approach reflects a commitment to ensuring the accuracy and quality of the generated content via human oversight and intervention, which demonstrates a nuanced and flexible decision-making process that considers the specific requirements and circumstances of each content generation task. This suggests a prevailing inclination among journalists to maintain a level of editorial control and scrutiny over AI-generated content.

AI Integration in Journalistic Production Workflows

The findings reveal a significant reliance on AI among journalists during pre-production activities (fifty percent) to aid them in the preparation phase, which includes brainstorming, research and data collecting, content ideation, and development. In the second position, a considerable proportion of participants (thirty percent) use AI throughout the entire process, which underscores its versatility and useful integration into various journalistic tasks. Nonetheless, depending solely on AI throughout the entire workflow might lead to over-reliance on technology and diminish the human added value while limiting critical thinking. Additionally, the utilization of AI in post-production tasks by twenty percent of respondents underscores its potential to optimize content quality and its alignment with editorial standards.

Comparison Between AI Tools and the Journalist’s Skills

The results summarized above provide a look into the perceived strengths and weaknesses of AI tools when compared to the skills of journalists. In this context, it seems vital to scrutinize each point to individually compare and provide more nuance.

Generating Content

Seventy percent of respondents perceive AI tools as superior when generating written content, which is considered the core specialty of journalists. This reveals a high level of confidence in AI’s ability to produce written material efficiently and effectively, which makes it easier for journalist to produce more in less time.

Translating and Synthesis Skills

The perception is more evenly split in this area. Sixty percent of respondents indicate that AI tools are equal to human journalists. This result underscore the recognition of a journalist’s proficiency in these specific skills, which includes language mastery, the capacity to focus on essential ideas, and to prioritize. As such, this comparison indicates equity in this area, which is very interesting as it further enhances AI effectiveness. This is particularly interesting considering Moroccan journalism schools recruit the top graduates via a rigorous selection process that prioritizes language skills (for example, The Higher Institute of Information and Communication (ISIC) excludes students with language scores below 14 in preselection).

Handling Emotionally Intelligent Contents

Interestingly, sixty percent of respondents believe that journalists are better at handling emotionally intelligent content. This implies that while AI may be proficient in technical skills, it has yet to surpass the human capacity and unique ability to understand and convey emotions effectively. In summary, these results draw attention to AI's strengths in technical tasks, but also acknowledge the irreplaceable value of human expertise in certain aspects of journalism.

AI Impact on Job Security

The survey findings indicate a various degree of concern among respondents regarding the impact of AI on their job security. While a significant portion perceive a considerable or extremely high risk (seventy percent), the rest of the respondents adopt a more optimistic point of view while acknowledging only limited risks. This is likely the result of journalists already experiencing the necessity to adapt to previous technological advancements without any subsequent significant threat to their employment. The absence of any respondents dismissing the risk entirely underscores the widespread recognition of AI's potential implications for employment of journalists. Overall, these results accentuate the importance of addressing concerns regarding job security and implementing strategies to mitigate potential negative impacts as AI continues to reshape the journalism landscape.

Perceived Impact on Journalists Creativity

The results highlight a varied perception of AI's impact on the creativity of journalists as a significant portion of respondents view AI as reinforcing their creative abilities. However, there is also a notable proportion of respondents who perceive AI as limiting creativity. This subset of respondents may perceive AI as imposing constraints or restrictions on their creative freedom, which may be due to concerns regarding over-reliance on automated processes or the perceived limitations of AI-generated content. Upon closer examination of individual responses, it became evident those who viewed AI as inhibiting their creativity predominantly relied on AI services during the pre-production phase. This finding underscores the significance of considering the nature and extent of AI utilization. Users who heavily integrate AI into the initial stages of their creative process, such as ideation and brainstorming, may be prone to neglecting these essential creative exercises in the future. Instead, they may become disposed to deferring to AI tools without fully engaging in the creative exploration and ideation processes.

The optimal approach to navigating this situation involves a balanced utilization of both human creativity and AI capabilities. It is advisable to engage in thorough brainstorming sessions, which allow for the organic development of ideas. Subsequently, AI tools can be leveraged to refine, enhance, and potentially diversify these ideas. This collaborative process can facilitate the exploration of new perspectives and generation of innovative solutions. However, it is crucial to avoid falling into the trap of over-reliance on AI, which may lead to complacency and lack of critical engagement with one's own creative faculties. AI should be viewed as a process to assist or tool to complement human creativity, rather than entirely replacing it. By providing guidance and direction as it pertains to AI systems, users can harness their capabilities to generate creative ideas while still retaining ownership and agency over the creative process. This approach ensures that AI serves as a supportive resource, rather than a substitute for human ingenuity.

Part two: E-press company aspects

Company Receptivity and Readiness 

The findings reveal a receptive attitude by media companies toward the use of AI among their employees. Most respondents indicate receiving encouragement for AI adoption to leverage potential benefits that enhance productivity and innovation because it is easily measured in terms of organizational growth and competitiveness. The other half maintains a neutral stance, which may be either due to ignorance of the existence of such practices or because of the absence of a national legal framework to supervise the use of such technology within media companies. As for the absence of any prohibition, it underscores a prevailing openness and general acceptance of AI integration, which signals a favorable environment for its implementation within media companies.

The Financial Investment in Toolsets

In terms of investment in AI tools, the findings underscore several disparities. Only twenty percent of companies utilize paid AI tools to enhance performance and adopt more customized solutions tailored to a journalist’s needs. Meanwhile, the rest of respondents indicate a reliance on freemium and open-source solutions as cost-effective AI alternatives. This approach enables smaller and medium-sized electronic press companies, often operating on tight budgets, to harness the capabilities of AI technologies without incurring additional financial burden. This raises several questions as it pertains to the electronic press in Morocco. Is the security and privacy of a user’s data guaranteed? Are the results generated by these tools reliable? If so, then to what extent? , there is a total absence of any initiative to internally develop AI tools, which may be attributed to several factors such as:

• A lack of awareness as it pertains to data security concerns and confidentiality.
• The predominant influence of financial challenges and tight budgets, which leads to prioritization of other areas over AI investment.
• The absence of recognition regarding the importance of developing tailored solutions adapted to the specific workflows of individual companies.
• Current AI usage may be superficial or there might be a lack of training and/or understanding the true potential of AI.

Communication on Adopting AI Tools

While half of the organizations prioritize transparency and clarity in communicating their usage of AI in content creation, the other half appear to conceal the adoption of AI initiatives. This concealment may be done to mitigate potential concerns among stakeholders and their readers. This lack of transparency may ultimately lead to uncertainty, ambiguity, or misinformation regarding AI adoption and its impacts within these organizations. Despite the increasing use of AI, many companies still harbor suspicions regarding the potential reactions of readers and advertisers. This skepticism may arise from a business model that heavily relies upon the number of views to attract advertisers and generate revenue.

Guidelines and Training

The results highlight a mixed landscape of organizational initiatives regarding ethical guidelines and AI ethical training. Forty percent of respondents indicate there is a proactive organizational commitment to fostering ethical AI practices. However, many of these are limited to basic and fundamental usages of AI and mainly stick to general guidelines. The rest of the respondents indicate a lack of formal framework or training programs pertaining to AI integration. Addressing this gap is essential to promote responsible AI adoption while ensuring ethical decision-making and mitigating potential risks or challenges associated with AI. Organizations can foster a culture of ethical awareness and accountability in their AI initiatives by prioritizing the development and implementation of ethical guidelines and training programs.

Limitations of this Research 

The results of this research are not generalizable due to the inclusion of only a handful of electronic press outlets in a country that has hundreds. As such, our findings merely provide a glimpse of the usage of AI in journalism in Morocco. Consequently, there may be several initiatives we are not aware of.

Recommendations for Future Research 

Considering the main findings of our research, we recommend the establishment of a national guide to define ethical and best practices for AI usage in Moroccan journalism and content creation. This would ultimately include training sessions to optimize the efficacy of AI integration into journalism practices while minimizing potential risks. Such initiatives could help extract the benefits of AI while exploring its full potential. This should include learning how to properly use AI through correct prompts, using AI for data search and collection, identifying data sources for validation, directing data analysis and summaries, translating, generating automatic content, among others. Considering the data collected in the survey, it seems a matter of time until companies begin using AI to compete and keep up with the rapid pace of technological evolution. This is likely to begin with more routine tasks that consume time and human capital. As such, journalists must learn to adapt their working methods to integrate AI into their workflow effectively. This approach allows for humans and technology to build together, rather than worry about being replaced by AI robots.

Second, we encourage companies to internally develop AI tools by engaging with programmers or specialists that develop AI for specific needs, particularly as it pertains to both Arab and Moroccan contexts. However, this may prove to be financially significant, which may result in a disparity between large and small media companies in terms of investment.

Third, enhancing the collaboration between media outlets, universities, and startups that specialize in AI development could facilitate a knowledge exchange to develop novel AI methods in the field of journalism. Considering the growing awareness and desire in Morocco to establish and expand AI and AI development throughout the kingdom we encourage the expansion of these initiatives in the higher education sector. This AI development is evidenced through the establishment of two schools specializing in AI in the prefectures of Taroudant and Berkane, the AI International Center in Bengrir, and training programs launched in different private higher education institutions. The novel initiatives provide an opportunity for cross-sector collaboration, particularly as it pertains to the integration of AI into the fields of media and journalism. Despite the increased financial significance of developing internal AI tools, especially when adaptable and free tools are easily accessible, such an investment may offer a certain ease of use while mitigating information security concerns. This is especially pertinent to journalism, where sensitive information could be exploited by the owners of the free AI tools. Another advantage would be the adaptability of AI algorithms to respond to the exact needs expressed by journalists, which may further enhance their productivity and allow them to focus more labor-intensive tasks.

Fourth, we strongly recommend the establishment of legal framework for AI use in Morocco. This should be done to regulate its development, deployment, and governance within the national territory while simultaneously inspiring local innovators to explore this field. Such a framework should also examine other international frameworks that have been proposed. For example, Smuha (2019) proposes seven requirements for trustworthy AI:

• Human agency and oversight
• Technical robustness and safety
• Privacy and data governance
• Transparency
• Diversity, non-discrimination, and fairness
• Societal and environmental well-being
• Accountability

The researchers would strongly urge an approach that favors the collaborative integration of AI within human capacities, rather than implementing fully automated systems.

Finally, we advocate for the integration of AI that is predicated upon a continuously improving system based on human feedback. This allows for the exploration of better methods to enhance journalistic production processes while making them more efficient and expedient, which incorporates feedback from journalists on a consistent basis to capitalize on evolving best practices. This process aims to foster a culture of continuous improvement while enhancing the effectiveness of AI tools to support workflows and tasks. By implementing systematic feedback collection mechanisms, organizations can harness valuable insights to optimize AI adoption strategies and ensure that AI technologies effectively meet the needs and expectations of employees.

Conclusion

AI integration in the fields of journalism and media provides value. This includes enhancing time management and efficiency in executing work-related tasks, which allow journalists to focus on higher-value activities. Moreover, AI algorithms continue to develop, which indicates we may be on the precipice of AI generating content that is indistinguishable from human authors. This may result in AI capably copying the best journalist’s writing techniques, styles, and even punctuation. This is likely to become a reality as many AI systems have complete access to the entirety of the internet and thus learn these capacities from skilled human journalists. Currently, it is now possible to automate the writing of content without much of the audience detecting any difference. The goal of integrating AI into the fields of journalism and media should be to provide journalists with the time to focus on more high value content creation that boost a company’s visibility and reputation. Additionally, this technology may increase revenue by optimizing the efficiency of content creation while allowing journalists to focus on strategic aspects of journalism, such as investigative reporting, in-depth analysis, and exclusive interviews. However, AI is not without risks. These may manifest as technical issues that generate unreliable information and fake news based on errors in the data. Further, there are numerous privacy and data security concerns related to the use of data provided by users. Moreover, there is a risk of job displacement for those individuals engaged in repetitive and menial work.

To summarize, we implore media companies in Morocco to act promptly and start investing or at least preparing for the integration of AI into their production processes. This is crucial to ensure their survival in a landscape marked by intense competition and rapid technological advances. Otherwise, companies who eschew this call may risk being left behind. The same advice applies to journalists. Those who work in this field need to adapt to and master AI to harness its full potential. As there is not turning back the clock on AI, it is more expedient to establish a collaborative relationship with AI, rather than considering the technology as a threat. This should be achieved by adopting a complementary approach to boost a journalist’s skills and deliver a higher quality content in the digital era.