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Introduction
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a term that is both widely used and loosely defined (Kanal and Lemmer, 2014). Even in academia, experts in different fields have different opinions on what AI is, what AI can do and how to design, standardize and integrate it into social implications (Müller and Bostrom, 2016). Over the past 30 years, significant progress has been made in this area because of the increase in computing processing power, the development of algorithms and, perhaps most importantly, the availability of large data sets that can help train AI systems. Today, most AI systems involve machine learning or deep learning. These algorithms can both recognize patterns in the data set without human guidance and evolve over time through self-learning.
Having attracted a lot of investment from governments and enterprises, technology companies integrate AI into a wide range of products, from driverless cars and weapons to TVs and provide daily living services, such as health care, news production and social media management. In the past few years, governments have also adopted AI as an important policy initiative. Obviously, these fast-evolving technologies will completely change the life of the entire world. But how AI does this and what role the news media may play in shaping this transformation, all remain open questions.
Public perceptions of AI come mainly from mass media. News reports can explain to the public what AI is, what AI can do and what AI means to them. However, research has largely ignored the role of media discourse in the construction of AI concepts. At the same time, media reports often oscillate between two sensational poles: a utopian dream of a useless future and eternal life and a nightmare against the uprising of robots and the end of the world (Cave and ÓhÉigeartaigh, 2019). Although the advantages of AI are obvious, there is still huge uncertainty and controversy regarding the positioning of AI, not only related to the possible impact of AI in the entire society but also the way to regulate and develop AI systems. News coverage raises an essential, dynamic and vital public discussion for addressing this emerging public issue (Jensen et al., 2017). Therefore, we need to better understand the news discourse of AI: public narratives, expectations, hopes...