Artificial Intelligence and Professional Adaptation Among Media Practitioners in Lagos

This study investigated how artificial intelligence (AI) driven changes are reshaping mass communication practice in Lagos, Nigeria, with specific focus on perceived job displacement threats and emerging skills requirements among media practitioners. Anchored on the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989) and the Diffusion of Innovations Theory (Rogers, 2003), the study adopted a quantitative survey research design. A structured questionnaire was administered to 300 mass communication professionals across print, broadcast, online, and advertising/public relations firms in Lagos, out of which 274 copies were validly returned, yielding a response rate of 91.3%. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations), Pearson Product-Moment Correlation, one-way ANOVA, and multiple regression analysis at a 0.05 significance level. Findings revealed that while awareness of AI tools was high among practitioners (89.4%), actual regular adoption remained low (28.1%). Perceived usefulness emerged as the strongest predictor of AI adoption willingness, while perceived job displacement threat showed a significant negative correlation with adoption readiness. Mid-career professionals (6 to 15 years of experience) expressed the highest displacement anxiety. The most critical skills gaps identified were in data analytics, AI-assisted content creation, and prompt engineering. The study recommends structured reskilling programmes, curriculum reform in mass communication education, and organizational support systems for AI integration in Nigerian media practice.