Forum Explores AI Integration and Governance for Media Industry Transformation

According to China News Service, the 2026 Cultural Power Construction Summit Forum’s sub-forum on Artificial Intelligence and Media Transformation was held in Shenzhen on May 22. The event gathers leading officials, mainstream media executives and academic experts to discuss the balanced development of technological empowerment, industrial upgrading and risk governance amid the deep integration of AI and the media sector.

Senior officials highlight three core principles to guide the integrated development of AI and media industries. The framework prioritises active adoption of intelligent technologies to accelerate the digital and intelligent transformation of mainstream media organisations. It also emphasises the fundamental public responsibility of mainstream media to drive orderly and ethical AI development. Balanced progress between industrial innovation and risk prevention is essential to enhance comprehensive AI governance capabilities across the industry.

Mainstream media institutions are encouraged to deepen collaborative innovation with technology enterprises, commercial platforms and research institutes. Building an industry-university-research-application cooperative mechanism helps media bodies act as responsible technology adopters, industrial promoters and security guardians during systematic media reform.

Senior editorial officials from People’s Daily Online stress the irreplaceable value of human thinking and professionalism in AI-driven content production. Advanced AI tools deliver powerful productivity improvements for standardised media workflows, yet they cannot replicate human judgment, ideological stance and humanistic empathy. Original ideological guidance and cultural depth remain the core competitive strength and fundamental safeguard of modern news communication.

Senior management figures from Xinhua News Agency underline prudent and standardised AI application in public communication. Intelligent technologies must be fully supervised to curb potential risks such as AI hallucinations, algorithmic bias and false information proliferation. Human oversight will continue to dominate technological application to maintain a healthy and clean public opinion ecosystem.

Industry academics propose new development paths for media practitioners amid technological iteration. Researchers from Communication University of China note that as AI undertakes massive standardised and computable media work, journalism professionals need to reshape their exclusive professional advantages and core competence boundaries.

Research leaders from ByteDance Research Institute advocate redefining AI’s role in industrial upgrading. Intelligent technology should serve as a systematic driver for media reform rather than a simple auxiliary tool. Media institutions will focus more on original high-quality content creation while advancing in-depth cooperation with technology companies to build a sustainable high-quality content ecosystem for the AI era.

The forum clarifies the future development direction of the media industry. Technological innovation and humanistic values will advance in tandem. Ongoing industrial cooperation and standardised governance will further unleash AI’s empowering effects on content production, communication innovation and public opinion guidance, supporting the high-quality development of cultural and media industries.