Learn tools, ethics and strategy, and earn a certificate online. You’ll gain the skills to spot AI risks like bias, misinformation and hallucinations before they harm your work, and apply tools transparently and ethically to build audience trust.

The definitive course for journalists, creators and media professionals navigating the AI age.

Artificial intelligence is rewriting the rules of media. Journalists, creators and media professionals are under pressure to move faster and do more — without sacrificing accuracy, credibility or trust.

Most AI courses stop at prompting tricks. This course goes deeper, focusing on strategy, impact and ethics. You’ll learn how to streamline research, generate smarter drafts and test ideas quickly, while also gaining the skills to spot AI risks like bias, misinformation and hallucinations before they harm your work. Just as importantly, you’ll practice applying AI transparently and ethically so your audience knows they can trust your process.

Through four modules you’ll explore how AI is changing journalism, practice refining prompts for better results, compare platforms for speed and accuracy, and examine real examples of deepfakes and misinformation. Along the way, you’ll apply journalism ethics to AI dilemmas and review newsroom policies you can adapt to your own work.

Completing the program earns you a certificate, recognized as a mark of excellence in journalism and media training, and positions you as the AI voice in your newsroom or creator community — able to evaluate tools, benchmark outputs and shape responsible policy.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you will:

• Understand how generative AI is reshaping journalism, media and content workflows.
• Apply AI tools to speed research, idea generation, drafting and fact-finding.
• Critically evaluate AI tools for accuracy, bias, style and reliability.
• Detect and debunk AI misinformation, deepfakes and manipulated content.
• Use AI responsibly, with clear transparency and ethical standards.
• Build practical policies for safe, effective AI use.
• Gain the confidence to guide AI strategy in your newsroom or content community.
• Earn a Poynter certificate to validate your AI literacy and leadership skills.

Course Modules

• Module 1: The landscape of AI in journalism and media 
  Understand the current state of AI, how it is shaping media, and what it means for credibility and public trust. Includes a short quiz and reflection exercise.
• Module 2: Practical applications for AI tools 
  Explore leading tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and NotebookLM. Learn effective prompting techniques and practice fixing prompts to get better results.
• Module 3: Choosing and assessing AI tools 
  Learn criteria for tool selection, compare platforms, and complete interactive exercises benchmarking speed, accuracy and bias. Includes a scenario-based tool selection activity.
• Module 4: Ethics and standards of generative AI 
  Apply core journalism ethics to AI use and the verification of AI-generated content, review examples of newsroom policies and work through ethical dilemmas. Ends with a capstone reflection on how you will apply AI responsibly in your role.