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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Commun.
Sec. Media Governance and the Public Sphere
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2024.1453251
This article is part of the Research Topic The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Media, Journalists, and Audiences View all articles

Artificial intelligence and the dawn of an algorithmic divide

Provisionally accepted
Maximilian Eder Maximilian Eder 1*Helle Sjøvaag Helle Sjøvaag 2
  • 1 Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany
  • 2 University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms reshape news curation and consumption. Against this background, previous research has been focused on divides between groups regarding access to such digital technologies. However, disparities in awareness and knowledge of AI across socio-demographic groups persist, potentially leading to an algorithmic divide. Despite this situation, there is still limited research into such an emerging inequality. Building on the framework of algorithmic literacy, this study aims to contribute to this gap with findings from a national representative study in Germany (N=1,090) in January 2022, considering sociodemographic factors such as age, gender, and education. Findings shed important light on the extent to which news audiences are knowledgeable about the use of AI and algorithms in news selection and recommendation, as well as in society. The results of our analysis imply that newsrooms should increase their knowledge about the potential divides created by applying AI across sectors to various socio-demographic groups and stay vigilant about the level of transparency of their AI use.

    Keywords: algorithmic divide1, Artificial Intelligence2, journalism3, Literacy4, Germany5

    Received: 22 Jun 2024; Accepted: 10 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Eder and Sjøvaag. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Maximilian Eder, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.