“Helping Me Versus Doing It for Me”: Designing for Agency in LLM-Infused Writing Tools for Science Journalism

Journalists rely on their agency—the ability to exercise independent judgment in alignment with their values—to fulfill their democratic social role. In this study, we investigate how LLM-infused writing tools reshape journalists’ agency in editorial decision making. In interviews with 20 science journalists, we presented four hypothetical LLM-infused writing tools representing a range of possible design space configurations. We find that journalists are selectively willing to cede control: they view AI that gathers information or offers feedback as supporting their efficiency by automating execution while leaving decision making intact. In contrast, they see AI that generates core ideas or drafts as a threat to their autonomy, skill development, self-fulfillment, and professional relationships. This sensitivity extends to seemingly automatable tasks such as manipulating writing voice with AI, which are seen as reducing opportunities for reflection and critical thinking. We discuss the implications of these findings for design that preserves journalistic agency in the moment, and over the long term.