AI for the audiences: Envisioning the future media environment

The rapid development and broad-ranging deployment of generative AI poses significant repercussions for media and journalism. Media research has primarily concentrated on newsroom applications, while the potential use of AI by audiences remains underexplored. Drawing on theoretical lenses from media and communication studies, we examine how generative AI in media consumption may drive a shift in the media and information environment. Our empirical study with 17 researcher participants employs design fictions to explore this shift. We analyse and discuss the envisioned development in terms of potential changes in media consumption, audience relationship and key information concerns, with implications for media processes and journalist roles, audience agency, media business models and societal engagement.