Vice Chairman of Vietnam Journalists Association Tran Trong Dung addresses the conference “Rebuilding Trust and Shaping Attention in the AI Era”

This view was shared by Tran Trong Dung, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association, at a recent conference, “Rebuilding Trust and Shaping Attention in the AI Era,” held in Ho Chi Minh City.

Many AI responses to news queries contain major errorsAccording to Tran Trong Dung, the rapid growth of AI technologies, including deepfakes, AI chatbots, and automated content generation tools, is reshaping the entire information ecosystem. Never before has it been so easy to create convincing fake images, voices, and videos. An edited video or misleading article can spread quickly across social media, causing public confusion, harming individual reputations, and, more seriously, threatening economic stability, political stability, and social security.

What is particularly concerning is that the public is increasingly caught in an information “matrix” where the line between reality and fabrication is becoming harder to distinguish. When people can no longer tell what is true and what is false, trust begins to erode.

This shift in how people access information is increasing the risk of misinformation to an alarming level, as content on these platforms is often aggregated without rigorous fact checking. A recent joint study by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) revealed troubling findings: as many as 45% of AI assistant responses related to news contained serious errors, while 31% of those errors involved incorrect citations or entirely false information. These figures serve as a warning about the growing crisis of information authenticity in the digital age.

In a world where information is created and shared at a pace far beyond human capacity to verify it, trust is becoming one of the most valuable yet vulnerable resources. When trust declines, the damage extends beyond the reputation of a few news organizations. It affects the cultural foundations, ethical values, and social consensus of society as a whole. In the AI era, revolutionary journalism must further strengthen its role as a trusted source of information and as an anchor that upholds truth and public confidence.

For that reason, Dung said journalists have a responsibility to verify sources, cross check facts, and provide the most objective and accurate information possible. This is a core strength that no social media account or AI tool can replace. High quality journalism is not simply about reporting events. It must help explain the underlying issues, guide public understanding, improve media literacy and information awareness, and ultimately build public trust.

Speakers participate in a panel discussion at the conference

Building trust through credible journalism

Nguyen Trong Phuoc, Director of the Digital Content Development Center at Thanh Nien Newspaper, said AI is fueling exponential growth in content creation, contributing to increasingly fragmented attention and declining trust. In this environment, the competitive edge of both press agencies and businesses no longer lies in who gains the most visibility, but in who can build lasting credibility and earn public trust.

As audience attention becomes increasingly divided across social media platforms and AI assistants, news organizations face fierce competition for public attention. However, the press does not pursue clicks at any cost or follow superficial trends that generate only short term and unsustainable interest.

According to Dung, the press must make trustworthy and verified information more engaging and easier to access by proactively adopting technology, modernizing newsroom practices, and improving engagement and interaction with the public. Through depth, accuracy, and social responsibility, journalism can continue to capture public attention on issues ranging from major global and national affairs to everyday concerns.

Dung said that while AI can generate content, it cannot replace the professional ethics, strong political commitment, social responsibility, and humanity of Vietnam’s revolutionary journalists. In an era of rapidly expanding and often chaotic information flows, journalists are more than news providers. They must act as gatekeepers who verify information and as a strong line of defense protecting the public from the harmful spread of misinformation.

To rebuild trust in the AI era, Dung said, efforts are needed from all stakeholders, including policymakers, the business community, academics, social organizations, and technology users themselves. Transparency, accountability, ethical AI development, and stronger digital literacy across society will be the foundation of this process.

At the same time, shaping attention should not be simply a race to capture more of users’ time. Instead, it should focus on creating experiences that help people learn more effectively, work more efficiently, and connect more deeply with positive values.