In short
AI tools already do part of the work in newsrooms: transcription, monitoring, searching documents and first drafts. They can also invent facts. Since 2 August 2026, the EU AI Act has required disclosure of AI-generated text on matters of public interest, unless a person has reviewed it and the newsroom takes responsibility for it.
Newsrooms have been asking this question since generative AI arrived. Answering it means looking at the tasks that make up a journalist’s work.
The tasks AI takes on
Part of a journalist’s work consists of transcribing interviews, rewriting wire stories, finding contact details, reading documents, following sources and formatting copy. AI tools now do much of this work. AI agents can carry out these tasks one after another on the same story, for hours.
What AI gets wrong
Generative AI produces plausible text. It can invent a fact, a quote or a source. In October 2025, a study by the European Broadcasting Union and the BBC found at least one significant issue in 45% of the answers that four AI assistants gave to news questions. Text produced by AI must therefore be checked before publication.
What the law requires
Since 2 August 2026, Article 50 of the AI Act has required that the public be told when a text published on matters of public interest has been generated or manipulated by AI. The obligation does not apply after human review or editorial control, where a natural or legal person holds editorial responsibility for the publication.
The European Commission’s guidelines specify what human review means. It covers the substance of the text and is carried out by a person with expertise in the field. Fact-checking is the minimum. A spelling correction or a purely formal approval is not enough.
How Verbatim’s agents work
Verbatim gives the journalist a team of AI agents. The journalist describes the subject in plain words. The agents search the web and public registers, read the project’s documents, follow sources day and night, transcribe interviews and write a first draft in the journalist’s style. They work on the same project for hours or for weeks.
Every fact stays tied to the exact excerpt it comes from. Verbatim checks every sentence against those sources and rejects any claim it cannot trace. It records the origin of every line: the journalist, the AI or a source.
The journalist sees what each agent is doing, at every step. They can stop or undo anything. No text is published without their approval.
Questions
Will AI cut newsroom jobs?
That depends on the choices each news organisation makes. Verbatim’s agents work on the projects a journalist gives them. No text is published without the journalist’s approval.
How can you check what an AI writes?
Tie every claim to its source. Copy quotes word for word. Record where each passage came from. Have a journalist approve every text before publication.