AI Agents 101

As debates continue over the comparative strengths of human and AI‑generated content, AI agents are becoming central to emerging discussions about the future of newsroom processes. Unlike earlier generative systems that produced probable responses to prompts, AI agents are designed to work toward user defined goals, drawing on tools, memory and feedback loops to plan, act and refine their outputs with minimal human involvement. Their growing capabilities raise pressing questions for journalism, a field built on collaborative workflows involving reporters, editors, designers, analysts and fact-checkers.

Gayoung Jeon is a doctoral student at the Annenberg School for Communication and a Steering Committee member at the Center for Media at Risk. Jeon’s research focuses on the multifaceted nature of mis/disinformation across diverse media formats—textual, visual and auditory—within the realm of hyper-politicized public communication in digital media.

References

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