Bridging the Invisible Gap: AI-Driven Journalism in Shaping Digital Inclusion for ‘Orang Asli’ or Indigenous Elders

Abstract

This paper examines the policy and ethical challenges of AI-driven journalism, defined here as news production and dissemination shaped by algorithmic curation, automated summarisation, and platform-based recommender systems in shaping digital inclusion among Orang Asli (Indigenous) elders in Malaysia. It asks how institutional regulation, algorithmic systems and social media journalistic practices reinforce or mitigate digital inequality for this marginalised older population. Drawing on critical media policy theory and socio-technical approaches to the digital divide, the study conceptualises digital exclusion as an outcome of interacting regulatory, infrastructural and generational factors. Using a triangulated virtual methodology comprising (1) content analysis of algorithmically curated news feeds on major social media platforms, (2) digital ethnography of public online spaces related to Orang Asli issues, and (3) analysis of relevant policy and regulatory documents, the study finds that AI-driven journalism systematically privileges content formats and dissemination practices that presuppose high digital literacy and stable connectivity. These dynamics disproportionately disadvantage Orang Asli elders and raise ethical concerns regarding algorithmic governance and informational justice. The paper concludes with policy recommendations aimed at inclusive AI journalism regulation and age-sensitive digital inclusion.