Same words, same rhythm: how AI is flattening the newsroom voice 🤖📰

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In just a few years, artificial intelligence has found its way into newsrooms. Proofreading, rewording, summarizing, generating content: the tools keep multiplying, and the time savings are real. But a worry is spreading among professionals: each journalist’s stylistic signature could fade. Not long ago, an attentive reader could recognize an author by their sentences or vocabulary. Today, language models (the software behind assistants like ChatGPT) tend to smooth out writing and make texts by different authors look alike.

When algorithms shape word choice ✍️

Language models fix mistakes, restructure sentences and suggest phrasing that sounds more professional. The side effect is reportedly easy to spot: certain French words keep coming back, such as « accru » (heightened), « persistant » (persistent), « croissant » (growing), « considérable » (considerable) or « enjeu majeur » (major issue). Sentences are said to grow longer and more explanatory, sometimes heavier than they need to be. Texts from different newsrooms end up sounding alike, which raises questions about editorial identity.

« I wonder whether the journalists of tomorrow will still shine through their atypical styles. The Alain Belibi generation is truly nostalgic, » says Luise. (Belibi is a name Cameroonian readers associate with journalism; see the adaptation notes.)

An increasingly uniform journalistic style 📄

The cause is technical. Trained on huge volumes of data, these systems tend to reproduce the most common structures, and therefore the most predictable ones. On the web, the telltale signs are well known: copy-paste introductions, repetitive lists, too many logical connectors, boilerplate phrasing. On radio and television, the phenomenon is said to be gaining ground. Texts meant to be spoken on air reportedly lose their natural feel in favor of mechanical writing, even though broadcasting lives on fluency and closeness to the audience.

AI as an assistant, not a replacement 🧠

The challenge is not to reject the tool but to keep it in its place. It speeds up repetitive tasks and improves the technical quality of texts. It replaces neither critical thinking, nor field experience, nor the distinctive voice that makes a good report. A machine can help you write better; it should never erase the personality of the person who signs the piece.

« As a journalist, using AI positively helps enormously. You just have to know how to handle it, » explains Honorine, a journalist.

Protecting your signature in the age of AI 💡

Today’s journalists are being told by the older generation of reporters to cultivate their originality: reread and rewrite what the AI suggests, and impose their own rhythm, words and angle. Technology should remain a support for creativity, never a driver of standardized news.

Your turn: does AI make journalists better, or does it cost them their style and personality? Tell us in the comments.