# A Review of Artificial Intelligence Research in Peer-Reviewed Communication Journals
## 5 Discussion
Thus, scholars from other areas in the communication field, such as public relations and mass communications, should also contribute to AI research to advance AI research in the communication field. Findings also indicated that there is a national diversity among scholars who published AI research, which indicates that the editors are open to international manuscripts in the communication field and have started to balance the dominance of U.S. scholars. The theoretical frameworks applied to the articles reviewed in this study are also the ones applied mostly to journalism studies, such as agenda setting, framing, and gatekeeping theory. There were, however, no dominant theoretical frameworks applied to AI research, which could indicate that AI research in the communication field is in the maturation process. Similar to the findings of the articles reviewed in this study [18; 84], we also recommend future studies to introduce and test existing theories in related fields as well as develop new ones for AI research in the communication field. This study also found a variety of topics covered in peer-reviewed journal articles, which also indicates the diversity of the topics in the communication field related to AI research, including areas of public relations, advertising, and journalism. Among a variety of topics covered in peer-reviewed journal articles, this study found scholars did not pay enough attention to ethical considerations in AI research. A recent study on the ethical implications of AI in marketing [32] developed a conceptual model anchored in acceptance theory, risk perception, trust, and attitudes toward AI. The empirical examination, involving 200 consumers of AI marketing services, revealed that perceived risk significantly influences attitudes toward AI, ethical concerns, and perceived trust. Additionally, the research indicated a notable correlation between perceived risk, ethical concerns, and social norms. This study emphasizes the significance of ethical and moral inquiries surrounding the adoption of AI in marketing. Therefore, it suggests focusing on AI ethical concerns and implications as future research topics in the areas of public relations, advertising, journalism, and mass communication. For example, scholars should examine issues including bias in data and algorithms, privacy concerns, transparency in decision-making processes, discrimination, and power over AI systems to prevent negative consequences of AI development and usage. Scholars can investigate, for instance, to what extent AI systems enhance recruitment quality in areas of public relations, advertising, journalism, and mass communication and what can be done to mitigate discriminatory hiring practices because of algorithmic bias. Scholars can also analyze the role of communication practitioners in addressing the public's privacy concerns, mitigating potential risks by designing safeguards to prevent AI from making decisions that could harm the public and society as a whole. Scholars should also continue to conduct AI research in different parts of the world to analyze the effects of environmental factors such as political systems, technological infrastructure, media systems, and economic systems on AI implications. Moreover, more research on AI-powered tools and their effects and implications in public relations, advertising, journalism, and mass communication would provide significant improvements in AI research in the communication field. For example, scholars should analyze how communication practitioners in different media industries can best realign their roles and relationships between the publics and technology in their work. Furthermore, following [PERSON] and [PERSON] [93] suggestion, this study also argues that scholars and practitioners need to embrace a big-picture approach in terms of the practical, strategic, and ethical challenges posed by AI, so they can present a more encompassing and accurate picture of media work and how it is consumed by publics in the era of AI.