Google is pitching an AI journalism tool to major news outlets
To assist journalists in writing their stories, Google is developing a tool that uses artificial intelligence technology. The company pitched the product to executives from news organizations including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal owner, News Corp, per a report from the Times.
Known internally as Genesis, the AI tool can take information from current events to create news content. Google presented the project as a "responsible" assistant for journalists. "Quite simply, these tools are not intended to, and cannot, replace the essential role journalists have in reporting, creating and fact-checking their articles," Jenn Crider, a Google spokesperson, said. Google co-founder Sergey Brin has returned to the company and worked closely with researchers developing Gemini, Google's large-language model (LLM).
Anonymous sources who were present for the pitch described the presentation as "unsettling," per the Times. Two executives said the product "seemed to take for granted the effort that went into producing accurate and artful news stories." While Google is promising the tool won't replace journalists, members of the press are still wary of how Genesis will affect the industry.
Pros and cons of using AI in journalism
For journalists, there are upsides and downsides to Google's new AI tool, Jeff Jarvis, a journalism professor, told The New York Times: "If this technology can deliver factual information reliably, journalists should use the tool." However, if the tool is "misused by journalists and news organizations on topics that require nuance and cultural understanding," he added, "then it could damage the credibility not only of the tool but of the news organizations that use it."
Google's problematic track record with media
It's difficult to judge whether the tool is as responsible as Google claims without seeing it. Still, recent examples of media incorporating AI "show the weaknesses of trying to use machines to boldly make the mistakes that human journalists are already more than capable of making on our own, thank you," Richard Lawler wrote on The Verge. Besides, "Google's fickle attention span for new products" is "presumably a concern for anyone considering the tool," Lawler pointed out. Not to mention "the media industry as a whole has more than a few issues with Google, no matter how many promises are made about Google News exposure for local papers."
News publishers should be cautious with Google, warned Jason Kint, the chief executive of online news lobbying group Digital Content Next, to The Washington Post. The tools are exciting and should be explored. However, "publishers should have their other eye on Google's long history of harvesting their copyrighted material and their users' data in a manner that maximizes Google's own profits and interests."
It "seems premature" to introduce AI to journalism
We've already seen that the LLMs that power AI tools like ChatGPT or Google's Bard can "produce factually incorrect information," Hany Farid, a computer science professor at the University of California at Berkeley and a member of its Artificial Intelligence Lab, told the Post. "Unleashing these models in the critical, and often time-crunched, field of journalism seems premature," Farid added.
"We're all for technological advances helping our reporters and editors do their jobs," said Vin Cherwoo, the president of the News Media Guild, told The Associated Press. "We just don't want AI doing their jobs," he added. "What's most important for us is to protect our jobs and maintain journalistic standards."
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