Dr. H. (Hannes) Cools
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
CW : Political Communication & Journalism
Area of expertise: Artificial Intelligence, News automation, Newsroom Innovation, AI in News, Generative AI
Visiting address
- Nieuwe Achtergracht 166
- Room number: C8.00
Postal address
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Postbus 15791
1001 NG Amsterdam
Contact details
Social media
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Profile
Dr. Hannes Cools is Assistant Professor Human Factor in New Technologies at the University of Amsterdam. He is also a Fellow at the Digital Democracy Centre (DDC), at the University of Southern Denmark. His research interests include (generative) AI, computational journalism, algorithmic recommender systems and newsroom innovation. He is also an affiliated researcher at the Brown Institute of the Columbia Journalism School in New York City. From 2018 till 2022, he was a PhD-candidate at the Institute for Media Studies (IMS), University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium where he studied AI in journalism. Before, he worked as a journalist at De Morgen (DPG Media) in Belgium where he covered technology and international politics.
Expertise and research groups
- Artificial Intelligence
- News automation
- Newsroom Innovation
- AI in News
- Generative AI
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Research
Research methods
- Qualitative methods
- Quantitative methods
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Publications
- refereed (13)
- academic (1)
- professional (4)
- popular scientific (1)
- recognitions (4)
- doctoral thesis (1)
2025
Cools, H., & de Vreese, C. H. (2025). From Automation to Transformation with AI-Tools: Exploring the Professional Norms and the Perceptions of Responsible AI in a News Organization. Digital Journalism, 1. Advance online publication.- Cools, H., Helberger, N., & de Vreese, C. (2025). Co-creating research at The AI, media, and democracy lab: Reflections on the role of academia in collaborations with media partners. Journalism. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849251318622
- Møller, L. A., Cools, H., & Skovsgaard, M. (2025). One Size Fits Some: How Journalistic Roles Shape the Adoption of Generative AI. Journalism Practice. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2025.2484622
2024
- Cools, H. (2024). Hoe algoritmen een extra laag toevoegen aan de journalistiek: Op zoek naar bewijs van redacties en hun innovatielabs. Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap, 52(1), 83-105. https://doi.org/10.5117/TCW2023.X.004.COOL [details]
- Cools, H., & Diakopoulos, N. A. (2024). Uses of generative AI in the newsroom: Mapping journalists' perceptions of perils and possibilities. Journalism Practice. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2024.2394558
- Cools, H., & Koliska, M. (2024). News Automation and Algorithmic Transparency in the Newsroom: The Case of the Washington Post. Journalism Studies, 25(6), 662-680. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2024.2326636?src=exp-la [details]
- Cools, H., Van Gorp, B., & Opgenhaffen, M. (2024). New Organizations, Different Journalistic Roles, and Innovative Projects: How Second-generation Newsroom Innovation Labs are Changing the News Ecosystem. Journalism Practice, 18, 1605-1620. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2022.2097940
- Cools, H., Van Gorp, B., & Opgenhaffen, M. (2024). Where exactly between utopia and dystopia? A framing analysis of AI and automation in US newspapers. Journalism, 25(1), 3-21. https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849221122647
- Cools, H., van Gorp, B., & Opgenhaffen, M. (2024). Newsroom Engineering Teams as “Survival Entities” for Journalism? Mapping the Process of Institutionalization at The Washington Post. Digital Journalism, 12(2), 171–190. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2023.2195115
- Lamot, K., Cools, H., & Gevers, I. (2024). Exploring the Relationship Between Stylistic Features and Reactions on Facebook: A Comparative Analysis of Newspaper Headlines and Status Messages. Journalism Studies, 25(9), 990-1009. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2024.2359497 [details]
2023
- Cools, H., Van Gorp, B., & Opgenhaffen, M. (2023). The levels of automation and autonomy in the AI-augmented newsroom: Toward a multi-level typology of computational journalism. In S. Nah (Ed.), Research handbook on artificial intelligence and communication (pp. 284-299). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781803920306.00027 [details]
2022
- Cools, H., van Gorp, B., & Opgenhaffen, M. (2022). New Forms of Gatekeeping in the Age of Computational Journalism. In Futures of Journalism: Technology-stimulated Evolution in the Audience-News Media Relationship (pp. 161-175). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95073-6_11
2021
- Cools, H., Van Gorp, B., & Opgenhaffen, M. (2021). When algorithms recommend what’s new(S): New dynamics of decision‐making and autonomy in newsgathering. Media and Communication, 9(4), 198-207. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v9i4.4173
2024
- Diakopoulos, N., Cools, H., Helberger, N., Li, C., Kung, E., & Rinehart, A. (2024). Generative AI in Journalism: The Evolution of Newswork and Ethics in a Generative Information Ecosystem. AP. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.31540.05765 [details]
2025
2024
- Helberger, N., & Cools, H. (2024). Future scenario writing with the news industry: Three lessons from the digital growth summit. Web publication or website, AI, media and democracy. https://www.aim4dem.nl/future-scenario-writing-with-the-news-industry-three-lessons-from-the-digital-growth-summit/ [details]
2023
- Cools, H., & Diakopoulos, N. (2023). Towards guidelines for guidelines on the use of generative AI in newsrooms. Web publication or website, Medium. https://generative-ai-newsroom.com/towards-guidelines-for-guidelines-on-the-use-of-generative-ai-in-newsrooms-55b0c2c1d960 [details]
2024
- Morosoli, S. V., Cools, H., Naudts, L. P. A., & Venkatraj , K. (2024). Why Bother with AI Transparency? The Audience Perspective on How and Why News Organizations Should Disclose their Use of AI.. Web publication or website, Generative AI in the Newsroom. https://generative-ai-newsroom.com/why-bother-with-ai-transparency-7dbaecb898d0
Prize / grant
- Cools, H. (2024). Marie Curie Fellowship.
Media appearance
- Morosoli, S., Cools, H., Venkatraj , K. & Naudts, L. (12-11-2024). Why Bother with AI Transparency? The Audience Perspective on How and Why News Organizations Should Disclose their Use of AI [Web] Medium.com. AI Disclosures in Journalism. https://generative-ai-newsroom.com/why-bother-with-ai-transparency-7dbaecb898d0
Talk / presentation
- Cools, H. (speaker), Schjøtt Hansen, A. (speaker), Jones, B. (speaker), Jones, R. (speaker) & Helberger, N. (speaker) (10-4-2025). From principles to practices and publics: Exploring responsible agency in AI for public service media, The Future of Public Values in the Algorithmic Society, Amsterdam. https://algosoc.org/uploads/AlgoSoc-Conference-2025_spreads_DIGI.pdf
Others
- Naudts, L. (organiser), Helberger, N. (organiser), Cools, H. (organiser), Piasecki, S. (organiser), Sara, S. (organiser), Rinehart, A. (participant), Diakopoulos, N. (participant), Caswell, D. (participant) & de Lima Santos, M. (participant) (30-4-2023). The Impact We Generate #2. For our second session, we will explore the practical challenges of Generative AI for news media. How does the integration of Generative AI benefit (…) (organising a conference, workshop, ...).
2022
- Cools, H. (2022). How algorithms are augmenting the journalistic institution: In search of evidence from newsrooms and its innovation labs.
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Ancillary activities
No ancillary activities
Cools, H., & de Vreese, C. H. (2025). From Automation to Transformation with AI-Tools: Exploring the Professional Norms and the Perceptions of Responsible AI in a News Organization. Digital Journalism, 1. Advance online publication.