Groundbreaking research from the University of Sydney has uncovered a concerning trend in artificial intelligence-generated news content, revealing that Australian journalism is being systematically marginalised by Microsoft's Copilot AI assistant. The study demonstrates that AI-powered news summaries are overwhelmingly favouring international sources while rendering domestic media outlets virtually invisible.
Research Exposes Systemic Bias in AI News Aggregation
Dr Timothy Koskie from the university's Centre for AI, Trust and Governance conducted a comprehensive analysis of 434 AI-generated news summaries produced by Microsoft Copilot. His findings paint a troubling picture for the future of Australian journalism in the age of artificial intelligence. The research paper, titled Invisible journalists and dominant algorithms, warns that current AI implementations are reinforcing existing media inequalities rather than creating more diverse information ecosystems.
Alarming Statistics Reveal Australian Media Exclusion
The study's quantitative findings reveal the extent of the problem. Approximately one-fifth of Copilot's responses to news-related prompts featured links to Australian media sources, while the overwhelming majority connected users to American or European websites. In three out of seven news prompts specifically examined during the research, Australian sources failed to appear at all, creating what researchers describe as "digital news deserts" within AI-generated content.
Even more concerning is the pattern that emerged when Australian media did manage to surface in Copilot's responses. The technology consistently favoured large, established media organisations like Nine and the ABC while completely excluding smaller, independent outlets and regional publications. "No local journalist was ever mentioned," Koskie told Guardian Australia, highlighting how AI systems are erasing the human labour behind journalism while simultaneously undermining trust in media.
Geographic Blindness in AI Design
The research identified a fundamental flaw in how current AI systems process geographic information. Despite users being located in Australia, Copilot frequently introduced non-Australian sources including CNN, BBC, and ABC America in its news summaries. Koskie noted that even when Australia was mentioned in responses, references were typically to the country as a whole rather than specific regions like Ballarat or the Kimberley.
"Australians are invisible in this," Koskie explained. "In international studies, what people trust is local news. We have this issue of declining trust in media, and the media that they're being exposed to through these new platforms is not the one that people trust, which is local. Trust is also in people, and the people are invisible."
Economic Implications for Australian Journalism
The financial consequences of this AI bias could be devastating for Australia's media landscape. As Reuters Institute surveys confirm that searching for information, including news, has become one of AI's most widely used functions, the economic model supporting journalism faces unprecedented challenges. When users receive AI summaries without clicking through to original news websites, they inadvertently starve media outlets of essential web traffic and advertising revenue.
Koskie warns that this trend poses a direct threat to Australian media outlets' financial viability at a time when the industry is already struggling with concentrated ownership, declining independent outlets, and news deserts in regional areas. The technology is "just reproducing crises that we didn't properly attend to before," he observed, suggesting that AI systems are amplifying existing structural problems within Australia's media ecosystem.
Policy Solutions and Technical Recommendations
The research paper proposes several concrete measures to address these systemic issues. Koskie suggests extending the news media bargaining code's remit to consider AI tools specifically, creating financial incentives for AI companies to embed geographical awareness in their coding architecture. He advocates for policy mechanisms that would encourage AI developers to prioritise local and regional content when generating news summaries for Australian users.
"While Copilot may offer a sleek, automated gateway to news, this study highlights its tendencies to reinforce dominant international sources, sideline independent and regional media, and erase the human labour behind journalism itself," the academic paper concludes. "If left unchecked, such tools risk compounding Australia's existing media pluralism challenges rather than alleviating them."
Broader Implications for Global Media Ecosystems
The University of Sydney's findings resonate with wider concerns about generative AI's impact on journalism worldwide. According to the Reuters Institute's predictions for media, journalism and technology in 2026, generative AI "threatens to upend the news industry by offering more efficient ways of accessing and distilling information at scale." The institute further warns that as search engines transform into AI-driven answer engines, with content surfaced in chat windows, referral traffic for publishers could dry up, undermining existing and future business models.
Koskie's research began when Copilot installed itself on his system without permission in 2023 and invited him to use seven globally focused prompts to access news. These included queries like "what are the major health or medical news updates for this week" and "what are the top global news stories today." His decision to follow these prompts revealed systemic biases that extend beyond simple algorithmic preferences to fundamental questions about media diversity, democratic discourse, and the future of trustworthy information in the digital age.
