Il Foglio has made history as the first newspaper in the world to publish an entire edition created solely by artificial intelligence—no human writers, no direct quotes, just pure machine-generated reporting. In a groundbreaking move that could redefine journalism as we know it, this raises a pressing question: Is this the future of news, or a dangerous step toward a world without journalists?
A Revolutionary Experiment in Journalism
The Italian newspaper Il Foglio presented a historical moment in journalism by releasing a complete edition generated through artificial intelligence (AI). Media history records Il Foglio AI as its inaugural printed newspaper edition which is fully constructed by AI-powered content generation.
The groundbreaking AI creation constitutes an experimental initiative spanning a month to study both the capabilities and boundaries of artificial intelligence during journalistic operations. Il Foglio editor Claudio Cerasa explains that the main goal of the initiative is to determine the ways that AI technology affects reporting processes while shaping news production methods and reader consumption patterns.
“It will be the first daily newspaper in the world on newsstands created entirely using artificial intelligence,” Cerasa stated. “For everything. For the writing, the headlines, the quotes, the summaries. And, sometimes, even for the irony.” He clarified that while journalists still played a role, it was mainly limited to providing prompts to the AI and reviewing the generated content.
How AI Was Used to Create an Entire Newspaper
Unlike previous instances where AI has been used to assist journalists—such as generating short news summaries or aiding in research—Il Foglio AI is an entirely AI-driven publication. Every aspect of the edition, including headlines, article content, and even reader letters, was created by AI tools.
AI-generated content appeared in a four-page addition which was misprinted inside traditional Il Foglio slim paper format before its distribution through newsstands and on the newspaper’s website. The experimental journalism project lets researchers determine if AI can be used to produce news content while generating essential discussions about journalist employment and AI authenticity together with AI news production ethics. AI produced the content but the newspaper workers finalized it under standard Il Foglio editorial guidelines while preserving its distinctive writing style. None of the studied articles contained direct human source quotations in their content.
The Content of the AI-Generated Edition
AI-generated Il Foglio presented all customary newspaper content including political analysis as well as economic and cultural commentary. Former U.S. President Donald Trump served as the main headline topic for the front page news coverage regarding his impact on Italian political affairs. The creative piece titled The Paradox of Italian Trumpians focused on the paradoxical situation where anti-“cancel culture” Italians support their political pick Trump despite his democratic violations being celebrated by their groups.
Another major front-page article was titled Putin, the 10 Betrayals, which detailed what the AI identified as “20 years of broken promises, torn-up agreements, and words betrayed” by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The piece sought to analyze Putin’s foreign and domestic policies through a critical lens, listing key moments where he allegedly reneged on agreements or contradicted earlier commitments. Amid these politically charged articles, the AI-generated edition also included an economic piece based on data from Italy’s national statistics agency, Istat. This article, in contrast to the often pessimistic economic narratives, painted a more optimistic picture of the Italian economy. It highlighted how recent income tax reforms have led to salary increases for approximately 750,000 workers, arguing that the country was undergoing positive economic change.
On the second page, Il Foglio AI explored cultural and social topics, including an article about the rise of “situationships” among young Europeans. The AI examined how younger generations are increasingly avoiding traditional long-term relationships in favor of more flexible, undefined romantic connections.
The final page of the edition contained AI-generated letters to the editor. One particularly striking letter posed a philosophical question about the future of human labor, asking whether AI would eventually render people “useless.” The AI’s response sought to reassure readers, stating that “AI is a great innovation, but it doesn’t yet know how to order a coffee without getting the sugar wrong.”
The Role of Human Journalists in an AI-Driven Newsroom
This experiment demonstrates enormous value for journalism through its future potential. Historically journalists control the entire news production process from investigation through composition and final edition. Il Foglio AI used AI exclusively to create content while human staff operated merely as query inputters who checked the automated output. The advancement of AI tools creates doubts about journalists’ duties when performing their work in modern news production. The content generation efficiency of AI produces grammatically correct but it infallibly falls short of investigative reporting capabilities together with field journalism and advanced information analysis beyond statistical evaluation. The complete dependence on AI-generated content at Il Foglio AI produced a journal that lacked human spokesperson voice excerpts. The absence of direct source quotations stands as a substantial issue because these quotations represent fundamental ethical standards of journalism which add genuine firsthand evidence together with multiple viewpoints to enhance news storytelling. News media without human beings becomes flat and loses its depth of understanding because human interactions vanish from stories.
Ethical and Practical Concerns About AI in Journalism
Media outlets currently face opposition regarding their utilization of artificial intelligence technology in their operations. When employing AI-generated articles for efficiency purposes organizations encounter moral problems because of errors in content along with biased information and unclear source identification. AI-generated content raises substantial doubts about its accuracy levels as well as reliability dimensions. AI models can swiftly handle huge data volumes yet they still make mistakes because they operate with biased information. AI news generation based on faulty or offensive training sets can spread false information and establish dangerous information paradigms. AI systems do not possess the capability to verify facts with the level of accuracy that human journalists achieve in their practice. The technical process exhibits information integration abilities yet it lacks built-in verification protocols for authenticating content. setAddress an opportunity exists for incorrect information to propagate through articles generated by AI especially when news develops quickly. The replacement of human journalists through potential displacements stands as one of the significant problems in this issue. More newspaper content created through AI systems might motivate organizations to lower their human employee count and diminish the importance of investigative journalism. Media content would primarily consist of automated reporting that minimizes the depth of coverage in favor of speed and efficiency. The use of AI stands out as a useful tool instead of supplanting traditional journalists according to select thinkers. AI-generated automation of standard tasks allows journalists to concentrate on demanding and investigative stories requiring human analytical ability and analytical thinking skills.
A Glimpse Into the Future of AI in Journalism
Despite the concerns surrounding AI-generated journalism, Il Foglio AI provides a glimpse into a future where AI plays a more significant role in news production. Cerasa, Il Foglio’s editor, emphasized that this initiative was not meant to replace traditional journalism but rather to explore its potential applications in a practical setting.
“It is just another [Il] Foglio made with intelligence, don’t call it artificial,” he said, suggesting that AI could be seen as an extension of human intellect rather than a replacement for it.
News organizations worldwide must determine appropriate ways to use advanced artificial intelligence technology in their operations because AI technology continues advancing. News organizations need to establish an equilibrium between using AI’s operating efficiency to secure the established core values of journalism which are accuracy and accountability and human storytelling. Through Il Foglio AI’s groundbreaking project media organizations showcase AI as both practical and restricted when it comes to automated news creation. While AI may start a major industry transformation or stay confined to limited use cases there is no doubt AI technology can now function as a news reporter alongside human journalists.
