As with previous hype cycles of technological innovation, disruption, and adaptation, Generative AI is provoking existential questions about the value of journalism—and coinciding with waves of unionization among journalists in the United States. In a new article for Digital Journalism, we show how news media unions that represent and advocate for a growing number of journalists are trying to manage and stabilize Generative AI’s hype. Based on a close study of nearly 50 union sources over a two-year period from 2022 to 2024, we find six areas where news media unions are focusing their Generative AI attention and concern—and, notably, two areas where they’re not. Though these patterns reflect a snapshot in time, they serve as touchstones that scholars and practitioners alike might use to convene journalists, publishers, technologies, infrastructures, and audiences in ways that lead to better media systems.
