Research
How AI reshapes what societies know
I am a PhD candidate at Cambridge Digital Humanities, University of Cambridge (Selwyn College), supported by a Harding Distinguished Postgraduate Scholarship. My research examines how artificial intelligence reshapes journalism and information environments, and what that means for mediation: the people, institutions, and systems that stand between events and public understanding.
My work keeps technology platforms under scrutiny. That means both the information circulating on them and the ability of others to examine it.
I am a Student Fellow at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, and completed the MPhil in Ethics of AI, Data, and Algorithms at Cambridge with Distinction and the Huw Price Prize. I combine computational approaches — algorithm audits, large-scale text analysis, computational grounded theory — with interviews and ethical analysis, informed by more than a decade in newsrooms.
Themes
What I work on
AI and journalism
How newsrooms adopt AI systems, what those systems do to editorial judgement and labour, and what responsible adoption looks like in practice.
Information integrity
How platforms and generative systems change what publics can reliably know.
Mediation
Who and what now stands between events and public understanding, as algorithmic systems take over work once done by human gatekeepers.
Publications
Papers, reports & research writing
- Report: Data Not Found
This report analysed the data availability of widely used platforms and shows they provide no meaningful mechanisms for independent public scrutiny of either user-generated content or advertising data.
- AI, journalism, and critical AI literacy: exploring journalists' perspectives on AI and responsible reporting
This study explores the perspectives of media professionals on the concerns, needs, and responsibilities related to fostering AI literacy among journalists.
- Auditing Google's Search Algorithm: Measuring News Diversity Across Brazil, the UK, and the US
Preprint of a scientific paper that applies algorithm auditing to identify biases in Google's news distribution.
- Artificial Intelligence in Brazilian News: A Mixed-Methods Analysis
Preprint of a scientific paper that applies computational grounded theory to map the main topics in Brazilian coverage of artificial intelligence.
- LLMs left, right, and center: Assessing GPT's capabilities to label political bias from web domains
Preprint of scientific paper that assesses the ability of large language models to label political bias from web domains in zero-shot settings.
- Academic Podcasting: A Guide From The Good Robot Podcast
Report on podcasting as an academic medium — the current landscape, its strengths, limitations, and risks — with practical lessons from The Good Robot Podcast. Researched and authored the report, funded by an AHRC Impact Grant.
- Using GPT to Assess the Political Bias of News Outlets
A blog post based on my research that investigated latent abilities in GPT-3 to assess the political bias of news outlets.
Enquiries
Speaking & advisory enquiries
For keynotes, panels, workshops, training, or advisory work — in English or Portuguese — email me with dates, audience, and format.
Email hello@raphaelhernandes.com
Or reach me on LinkedIn.