A Study on Paradigm Evolution and Collaborative Pathways in News Illustration Design Driven by AIGC

In the"visual era"characterized by deep integration of digitization and intelligence, the pace of social life continues to accelerate. As a vital medium for information dissemination, news illustration has emerged as the urgently needed "fast-food style" reading format of today. Traditional news illustrations, characterized by lengthy production cycles and high costs, struggle to fully meet contemporary journalism's demands for immediacy and diversity. The rapid advancement of AI-generated content (AIGC) technology in recent years has injected new vitality into news illustration production through its efficiency and cost-effectiveness. However, AIGC applications have also sparked a series of controversies: generated content relies on big data probability calculations, making authenticity difficult to guarantee; copyright ownership remains ambiguous; and algorithmic logic leads to homogenized visual expressions, potentially causing audience aesthetic fatigue. Therefore, this paper aims to provide theoretical foundations and practical references for news illustration design through systematic comparative research, promoting the efficient and collaborative development of news illustration design. It seeks to drive the transformation of media from "converged media" to "intelligent media." Building upon this foundation, the paper further explores the human-machine collaboration pathway of "AI-generated drafts + human secondary creation." This approach aims to provide practical references for news media organizations to optimize illustration production models and mitigate technical risks, thereby helping news illustrations achieve balanced development of "technical efficiency" and "humanistic value" in the era of intelligence.