Artificial Intelligence continues to profligate the very fabrics of society. The Information ecosystem is no exception. There is already a shift in African newsrooms. Uganda is no exception. Editors are discovering that an article can be generated in seconds. Transcriptions that once took hours now arrive with the click of a button. Headlines speak with a tone of algorithms.
But with that convenience comes uncertainty and even fear.
On July 23rd, 2025, the Africa Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC) brought together 33 stakeholders from Uganda’s media, government, civil society, academia, and private sector under one roof at Protea Hotel Kampala. The goal was to confront the complex relationship between AI and journalism in Uganda. We also intended to explore what must be done to protect the integrity of information and safety of Journalists in the age of algorithms.
AI is no longer a future consideration; it’s shaping journalism now.
But as one journalist at the meeting put it:
“We are using AI, but we don’t fully understand what we’re using or what it’s doing to us.”
Convening voices, raising questions
In response, AFIC developed and launched a policy brief titled “Artificial Intelligence and Journalism in Uganda: Opportunities, Challenges, and Policy Pathways.”
But it didn’t stop there. AFIC convened the national dialogue to share findings and listen to what journalists are experiencing, what gaps exist, and what solutions are needed.
During the event, Stakeholders agreed that AI has value. However, this is only when journalists are equipped to use it wisely. That means training, safeguards, and strong policies. It means protecting creativity, ensuring cultural accuracy in AI tools, and building digital literacy to defend against AI-fueled surveillance.
Insights from the session
- AI is becoming core to newsrooms, requiring journalists in Uganda to adapt while upholding ethical standards.
Participants highlighted that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly being integrated into newsroom operations globally, and Uganda is no exception. From automating transcription and translation to generating headlines and summaries, AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini and transcription services such as Otter.ai or Trint are making their way into Ugandan media houses. However, journalists emphasized the urgent need for training on the ethical use of AI to avoid misinformation, plagiarism, or loss of journalistic integrity. There are fears that, without proper guidance, journalists may over-rely on AI-generated content, compromising editorial quality and ethical standards. - The creative nature of journalism is being challenged by AI-generated storytelling.
Traditionally, journalism in Uganda has been a creative pursuit, valued for human nuance and contextual storytelling, especially in vernacular and investigative reporting. With the adoption of AI, particularly generative AI like ChatGPT, some participants noted a shift where journalists use AI to “polish” or even entirely generate their articles. While this can enhance productivity, it may also lead to censorship or loss of originality as editors may begin to favor AI-polished work over raw, authentic journalism. The risk is especially acute in tightly controlled media environments, where fear of political or commercial reprisal may push newsrooms to use AI to produce sanitized, less critical stories. - The localization gap: linguistic and cultural misinterpretation by AI models.
Participants raised serious concerns about the poor performance of global AI tools when it comes to local languages and context, citing an example of Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot misinterpreting Luganda phrases in a completely inaccurate and even offensive way. This underscores the urgency of developing AI models that are locally trained using Ugandan languages and cultural references to avoid distortions and misrepresentations. The failure to localize AI tools means that journalists working in vernacular media or those reporting on rural communities risk being misquoted or misunderstood by these systems. - Rising fears of job displacement among Ugandan journalists.
AI’s ability to perform journalistic tasks such as drafting reports, summarizing interviews, or producing data visualizations has sparked fear among journalists, especially younger or freelance reporters in Uganda’s already precarious media job market. Participants noted that AI is likely to disrupt newsroom hierarchies, with media owners potentially using it as an excuse to cut costs by reducing human labor. Given that many journalists in Uganda work under informal or short-term contracts, there’s a strong need for dialogue on how AI will reshape media employment and labor rights in the country. - Building the capacity of journalists to use AI as a complementary tool, not a replacement.
To mitigate these fears, participants called for capacity-building programs to help journalists understand how AI can enhance, rather than threaten, their work. For instance, AI can help reduce workloads by assisting with fact-checking, automating repetitive tasks like transcriptions, or helping translate stories into multiple local languages. However, these benefits can only be realized if journalists are trained to critically engage with AI, understanding its limitations, biases, and proper editorial application. - Legal and policy frameworks are needed to govern the use of AI in media and communications.
Participants called on the Ugandan government, regulators like UCC, and civil society to establish legal safeguards to prevent the misuse of AI especially by political actors or media owners. There are fears that without regulation, AI could be used to generate fake news, deepfakes, or manipulate public opinion during elections. A framework is needed to protect journalists, uphold media ethics, and regulate surveillance and disinformation enabled by AI. - AI-fueled surveillance is on the rise, with limited technical knowledge.
Participants voiced concerns about the growing use of AI in state surveillance, including facial recognition technologies, social media scraping, and predictive policing often without consent or legal oversight. In Uganda, where civic space is already shrinking and journalists are targets of digital repression, the rise of AI surveillance raises red flags. Many journalists lack the technical literacy to detect or counter such surveillance, increasing their vulnerability. This calls for urgent digital security training and policy advocacy to prevent the misuse of AI tools against media and civil society.
There were clear outcomes from the day:
– A consensus on the urgency of national regulation on AI in journalism.
– Agreement to develop ethical guidelines for AI use in newsrooms.
– Calls for local AI model development that understands Uganda’s languages and social context.
– New partnerships forming between media houses, regulators, civil society, and academia to push for action.
One participant summarized it well:
“We can’t resist AI it’s about shaping it before it shapes us.”
What’s next?
From the dialogue, several next steps were identified:
– AFIC and Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) will initiate a technical roundtable to begin shaping a regulatory roadmap.
– Media development partners will support capacity-building workshops for journalists on ethical and productive AI use.
– Academic institutions will integrate AI and journalism into training curricula.
– A multi-stakeholder working group will begin drafting a National AI and Journalism Policy Framework.
Why it matters
Journalism holds a mirror to society. But if that mirror is distorted by unchecked algorithms, foreign models, or political manipulation, the truth gets blurred.
AI is not inherently good or bad. it is a tool. But tools need rules. And journalists need support.
And AFIC will continue to ensure that seat stays open.
📄 Read the Policy Brief 👉 https://www.africafoicentre.org/wpdmpro/policy-brief-bridging-the-gap-between-policy-and-practice-in-uganda-5/
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