# "It Might be Technically Impressive, But It's Practically Useless to us": Motivations, Practices, Challenges, and Opportunities for Cross-Functional Collaboration around AI within the News Industry

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.12000 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.12000/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 8 of its 113 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 18 Sep 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 8 of 8)

- [How do Data Science Workers Collaborate? Roles, Workflows, and Tools](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.06684/) (2020)
- [Bias of AI-Generated Content: An Examination of News Produced by Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.09825/) (2023)
- [Understanding Practices, Challenges, and Opportunities for User-Engaged Algorithm Auditing in Industry Practice](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.03709/) (2022)
- [Understanding Frontline Workers' and Unhoused Individuals' Perspectives on AI Used in Homeless Services](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.09743/) (2023)
- [Investigating Practices and Opportunities for Cross-functional Collaboration around AI Fairness in Industry Practice](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.06542/) (2023)
- [Understanding Practices around Computational News Discovery Tools in the Domain of Science Journalism](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.06864/) (2023)
- [NewsDialogues: Towards Proactive News Grounded Conversation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.06501/) (2023)
- [AI as a Tool for Fair Journalism: Case Studies from Malta](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.15316/) (2024)

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- ["Ownership, Not Just Happy Talk": Co-Designing a Participatory Large Language Model for Journalism](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.17299/) (2025)
- [Customer Service Representative's Perception of the AI Assistant in an Organization's Call Center](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.00513/) (2025)
- [Bridging Cultural Distance Between Models Default and Local Classroom Demands: How Global Teachers Adopt GenAI to Support Everyday Teaching Practices](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.10780/) (2025)
- [AI in the Workplace: The Impact of AI on Perceived Job Decency and Meaningfulness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.28680/) (2026)
- [What We Know about Responsible AI Practices in Industry: A Half Decade of Empirical Research](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.10431/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Recently, an increasing number of news organizations have integrated artificial intelligence (AI) into their workflows, leading to a further influx of AI technologists and data workers into the news industry. This has initiated cross-functional collaborations between these professionals and journalists. Although prior research has explored the impact of AI-related roles entering the news industry, there is a lack of studies on how internal cross-functional collaboration around AI unfolds between AI professionals and journalists within the news industry. Through interviews with 17 journalists, six AI technologists, and three AI workers with cross-functional experience from leading Chinese news organizations, we investigate the practices, challenges, and opportunities for internal cross-functional collaboration around AI in news industry. We first study how these journalists and AI professionals perceive existing internal cross-collaboration strategies. We explore the challenges of cross-functional collaboration and provide recommendations for enhancing future cross-functional collaboration around AI in the news industry.