AI is becoming part of everyday journalism in Nigerian newsrooms, report says

Nigerian journalists are integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into their daily work, but many newsrooms still lack editorial policies to govern its use, according to a new practitioner intelligence report by Carpe Diem Solutions, a Lagos-based strategic communications agency.

The report, titled The Future of Media & PR Collaboration in Nigeria, found that journalists now rate AI’s impact on their daily work between seven and eight out of ten, showing how deeply AI tools like ChatGPT and automated transcription software have become embedded in newsroom operations.

The findings come as newsrooms globally grapple with how generative AI is reshaping journalism production and audience trust. According to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, only 12% of audiences globally say they are comfortable consuming news produced entirely by AI.

Drawing on responses from journalists and media practitioners across 17 organisations—including national newspapers, broadcasters, digital outlets, and independent media platforms—the report found that AI tools are primarily used for research, transcription, editing, and writing assistance.

The report also highlighted growing concerns about the lack of editorial frameworks to manage that adoption, particularly regarding verification, transparency, and accountability.

“That is not a criticism of the journalists adopting these tools,” said Edward Israel-Ayide, founder and CEO of Carpe Diem Solutions. “It is a reflection of the conditions they work under: under-resourced, under pressure, and expected to do more with less, while the platforms that capture their audiences return very little to the ecosystem that produces the content.”

In Nigeria, where misinformation already poses a major challenge online, the report argues that the lack of newsroom policies leaves journalists in an exposed position. It notes that 84% of audiences in the country already struggle to distinguish real information from fake content online.

Journalists surveyed for the report expressed mixed feelings about the growing use of AI in media. A journalist covering entertainment said their primary concern was the risk AI poses to originality and the laziness it enables when used indiscriminately. 

A technology editor warned that AI would eliminate unique individual voices and make all media outlets similar in context and tone. Another entertainment reporter with over six years of experience noted that AI tools lack the contextual understanding of journalists reporting directly from the field.

“The concern,” the report states, “is not that AI will replace journalists, but that it will be used to justify replacing the time and resources that quality journalism requires.”

The report argues that AI risk is especially acute in Nigeria’s fragile media economy, where many organisations rely heavily on politically exposed advertisers and government relationships to remain financially viable.

Despite Nigeria having more than 107 million internet users—one of Africa’s largest digital audiences—many media companies continue to struggle to generate sustainable revenue as social media platforms increasingly dominate news distribution and advertising flows.

That economic strain is also affecting editorial independence. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), in its World Trends Report 2022–2025, found that self-censorship among journalists globally has increased by more than 60%, driven by online harassment, judicial intimidation, economic pressure, and fear of reprisals.

Still, the report points to examples of AI being used to strengthen journalism rather than to reduce newsroom costs.

Dubawa, a Nigerian fact-checking and verification organisation, has developed Dubawa.ai, a fact-checking chatbot designed to verify information and combat misinformation, while Dataphyte, a research and data analytics company, has built Nubia, a tool that helps journalists analyse complex datasets for data-driven reporting.