Google’s new AI tool could put newsrooms in trouble

Some executives found it “unsettling”. Some people “apparently said it takes effort to produce accurate and original news stories”.

thus, according to The New York Timesand leaders in timesthe Washington Postand the Wall Street Journal Interact with a new tool Google is testing, known internally as Genesis, that uses artificial intelligence to write news articles. The tool can “ingest information — details of current events, for example — and generate news content,” according to times, which reported on Wednesday that Genesis was being pitched to executives at the three organizations. “Google thought it could act as a kind of personal assistant for journalists, automating some tasks to save others time,” times reports, adding that “the company views it as a responsible technology that can help steer the publishing industry away from the dangers of generative AI.”

However, the executives’ nonchalant response to Google’s pitch speaks to the media’s growing concern about AI, and the role it might play in newsrooms. For months, the explosion of ChatGPT has fueled widespread concerns about chatbots imitating journalists’ writing, replacing functions intended for obscure/aggregate/abridged coverage, and threatening journalistic standards. Newsrooms that have experimented with AI-generated stories, like BuzzFeed, already have Face the shortcomings to technology — but it wasn’t enough to steer everyone away. Like Vox Peter Kafka notesexecutives at G/O media — which publishes sites like Gizmodo, The Onion, and Jezebel — plan to create more AI-generated stories, despite bugs and audit It was recently created by the company. G/O’s continued adoption of AI-written stories puts the company at odds with most traditional publishers, who generally say they’re interested in using AI to help them produce content but aren’t interested — right now — in making things nearly 100 percent self-made. automatic,” writes Kafka. (Google’s offer seems, for what it’s worth, to be in sync with the media’s concerns: Gene Cridera Google spokeswoman, told times that AI “is not intended, and cannot, replace the primary role journalists play in reporting, writing, and verifying their articles,” noting that they could instead provide options for headlines and other writing styles. But it’s easy to see how the technology could be used otherwise.)

Google’s new tool comes as OpenAI – ChatGPT’s parent company – brings its own news partnerships and technology sharing with media organizations. Last week, in one of the first such deals, the Associated Press He said It reached a two-year agreement with OpenAI to license AP’s text archive of news stories to help train its AI algorithms, with AP getting OpenAI’s technology and product expertise in return. The company is currently in discussions with other major news companies about news content licensing and technology sharing deals. according to Axios. And earlier this week, OpenAI said it had reached a two-year agreement with the American Journalism Project to “help fund local outlets’ efforts to experiment with AI technology,” Axios said. mentioned. OpenAI will commit $5 million in grant funding to local news initiatives through AJP, as well as “credits of up to $5 million that can be used by AJP portfolio companies to gain access to their tech products,” according to Axios’ Sarah Fisher. Local news companies will be “encouraged to experiment with ways the technology can be leveraged across entire news organizations,” Fisher reports, such as using artificial intelligence to better sort through complex FOIA data.