Global Study Reveals AI Assistants Distort News Content Nearly Half the Time

Widespread News Distortion Found Across AI Platforms

Artificial intelligence assistants routinely misrepresent news content approximately 45% of the time regardless of language, territory, or platform, according to a comprehensive international study coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and led by the BBC. The research, described as unprecedented in scope and scale, involved 22 public service media organizations across 18 countries working in 14 languages.

Widespread News Distortion Found Across AI Platforms
Systemic Issues Identified Across Major AI Tools
Growing Reliance on AI for News Consumption
Industry Response and Proposed Solutions
Regulatory Action and Ongoing Monitoring
Public Trust Implications

Systemic Issues Identified Across Major AI Tools

Professional journalists evaluated more than 3,000 responses from four leading AI assistants—ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity—against critical criteria including accuracy, sourcing, distinguishing opinion from fact, and providing context. The report states that the research identified multiple systemic issues across all platforms tested.

According to sources involved in the study, these findings build on earlier BBC research from February 2025 that first highlighted AI’s problems in handling news content. This expanded international investigation confirms the issue is systemic rather than isolated to specific languages, markets, or AI assistants.

Growing Reliance on AI for News Consumption

The findings come at a critical time as AI assistants increasingly replace traditional search engines for many users. Analysis from the Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2025 indicates that 7% of total online news consumers now use AI assistants to access news, with this figure rising to 15% among users under 25 years old.

Jean Philip De Tender, EBU Media Director and Deputy Director General, emphasized the broader implications: “This research conclusively shows that these failings are not isolated incidents. They are systemic, cross-border, and multilingual, and we believe this endangers public trust. When people don’t know what to trust, they end up trusting nothing at all, and that can deter democratic participation.”

Industry Response and Proposed Solutions

BBC Programme Director for Generative AI Peter Archer acknowledged both the potential and challenges: “We’re excited about AI and how it can help us bring even more value to audiences. But people must be able to trust what they read, watch and see. Despite some improvements, it’s clear that there are still significant issues with these assistants.”

The research team has developed a News Integrity in AI Assistants Toolkit to address the identified problems. This resource aims to help improve both AI assistant responses and user media literacy by answering two fundamental questions: “What makes a good AI assistant response to a news question?” and “What are the problems that need to be fixed?”

Regulatory Action and Ongoing Monitoring

According to reports, the EBU and its member organizations are pressing EU and national regulators to enforce existing laws concerning information integrity, digital services, and media pluralism. Given the rapid pace of AI development, analysts suggest that ongoing independent monitoring of AI assistants will be essential.

The organizations are reportedly seeking options to continue this research on a rolling basis to track improvements and identify emerging issues as AI technology evolves.

Public Trust Implications

Separate BBC research into audience use and perceptions of AI assistants for news reveals additional concerns. The data indicates that many people trust AI assistants to be accurate, with just over a third of UK adults saying they trust AI to produce accurate summaries, rising to almost half among people under 35.

These findings raise significant concerns, as sources indicate that when users encounter errors in AI-generated news summaries, they often blame both news providers and AI developers—even when mistakes originate from the AI assistant itself. Ultimately, these errors could negatively impact public trust in news organizations and established news brands.