Abstract Automated journalism driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the way the news is produced and consumed, but also raises significant considerations about a new media landscape and bias, accuracy, and confidence in the media. It is the objective of this research to ascertain how exposure to AI generated news affects bias, accuracy and trust perceptions of young (but digitally competent) news consumers in China. Using an online survey response (N = 467) from respondents aged 18 to 35, the data was analysed using SPSS and AMOS. Exposure to AI-generated news was found to be negatively related to less perceived media bias, and trust in at least some AI-generated news and was positively related to perceived accuracy of AI-generated news. Lastly, political orientation was found to be a significant moderator of trust in automated news media. Overall, these findings provide an overview of how exposure and trust and political orientation may influence the formation of theory about media in the Chinese context. Thus, the theoretical contribution lies in contributing to understanding of the elements of influences on audience perception of automated journalism. Then, reflecting on the importance of transparency and ethical AI practices is imperative if news organizations wish to honour their journalistic commitments, limit biases, and maintain a legitimate and democratic information system.
Yan Li (2026) studied this question.