Unveiling Swedish Media Framing of AI and Their Resonance with IT-Professionals: Influence on AI Adoption

Sammanfattning

In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative technology, reshaping industries and prompting significant shifts in how businesses operate. The widespread adoption of AI technologies is influenced by various factors, including technological readiness, organizational culture, and external perceptions. Media plays an important role in shaping these perceptions by framing AI in specific ways. Understanding how AI is framed in media and comparing these frames with the perspectives of IT professionals can provide valuable insights into the alignment or discrepancies between public discourse and professional practice. The purpose of this study was to unveil the frames held by Swedish news media, and which of these frames best reflected IT-Professional’s perception of AI. Additionally, we aim to explore the complex interplay of media frames and how such frames potentially shape individual held technological frames of reference surrounding AI adoption. The goal of the study was to contribute to existing research by expanding upon TFR and bridging the existing gap between framing theory, media frames, and AI adoption. We employed a qualitative study with an exploratory, multi-method approach. By drawing inspiration from Framing Theory, we conducted an analysis of Swedish newspaper articles, as well as semi-structured interviews with Swedish IT-Professionals. Our data sample included 946 newspaper articles and 5 interview participants. Through this method, we provided a broader context for the interview findings, which allowed for in-depth insights into how media frames reflect the frames held by IT-Professionals within their professional environments. Based on our findings, we uncovered nine dominant frames depicted in the Swedish news media; Disruptive Technology, Human-Machine Collaboration, Accelerate AI Adoption, Operational Optimization, Ethical Concerns, Regulation & Transparency, Strategize Before AI Adoption, Challenges of AI Adoption, and Dystopian Technology. Additionally, we identified five of these frames to best reflect the perception IT-Professionals had towards AI; Human-Machine Collaboration, Accelerate AI Adoption, Operational Optimization, Regulation & Transparency, and Challenges of AI Adoption.