The Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) has released a new survey detailing the concerns that Canadians, of both younger and older generations, have regarding the burden of artificial intelligence in news consumption.

The survey, conducted by the Harris Poll Canada and shared by CJF, found that 88 per cent of Canadians are deeply concerned about artificial content in the news, with nearly 60 per cent of Canadians aged 18 to 34 stating they see deceptive content on a daily or weekly basis.

The digital nomads, a.k.a. Gen Z, saw the greatest amount (57 per cent) of “fake news” represented in news, while the Booomer and older generations reported seeing less misleading content (39 per cent).

Across the board, over half of Canadians (52 per cent) agreed in unison that artificial intelligence is of grave concern, and respondents from Quebec were cited as seeing the greatest amount of deception in news.

Fake news was said to have the most impact when it comes to misleading information (56 per cent), followed by clickbait (51 per cent), deepfakes (44 per cent), AI-manipulated content (43 per cent), and political disinformation (40 per cent).

Trust in traditional news remains somewhat strong, with 75 per cent of respondents stating they have some trust in news media, and 30 per cent stating they have “complete trust” in news media. On the flip side, 27 per cent of respondents felt trust in social media platforms. However, differentiating between what is journalism and what is content posted on platforms is increasingly becoming more and more challenging to decipher between.

“Digital deception is no longer an occasional problem – it has become normalized in the daily lives of Canadians, particularly in those of our younger citizens,” said CJF’s president and executive director Natalie Turvey. “When digital deception is a routine part of how a generation consumes information, we face a fundamental threat to informed citizenship and democratic discourse.”

There is a general consensus among government and Canadians, as shown in the data, that artificial intelligence needs to be addressed and mitigated to maintain cohesion in society.

The data reinforces that trust in journalism is strong, but the public is looking for a “coordinated response to protect our information ecosystem and safeguard our democracy,” said Turvey.

The data was pooled from 1,532 Canadians on October 21, 2025.

The survey and its findings can be viewed via the Canadian Journalism Foundation’s website.