Artificial Intelligence in Public Service Media: Public Perceptions of AI Adoption in Spanish and German Broadcasters

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The accelerating progress of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping the media landscape, prompting adaptations to new opportunities and challenges. In the case of Public Service Media (PSM), the approach to this game-changing technology is geared towards exploring how AI can be applied to act in the public interest, rather than for commercial purposes, with the intention of pioneering the application of ‘a broad, citizen-oriented notion of AI ethics’ (Tambini, 2021). In this regard, this paper addresses a critical gap in the existing literature by exploring citizens’ acceptance of the use of AI by PSM organizations, a topic largely overlooked in favour of normative debates. Using survey data from Germany (n=2213) and Spain (n=2337), it examines how PSM consumption and its perceived value (informational, entertainment, and representational) influence AI acceptance in four areas: news writing, accessibility, news verification, and content personalization. The results show that digital audiences show broad acceptance of AI in all four tasks, while traditional audiences express reluctance, especially towards AI-generated content such as news writing. However, traditional audiences of PSM show greater openness to AI applications that align with their core public service values, specifically in improving accessibility and news verification. These results highlight nuanced perceptions of AI in the media and underscore the importance of aligning AI implementation with the values of public service media.