Google is testing a product that uses
artificial intelligence technology to produce news stories, pitching it to news
organizations including The New York Times, The
Washington Post, and The
Wall Street Journal’s owner, News Corp, according to three people familiar with the
matter.
اضافة اعلان
The tool, known internally by the working title Genesis, can
take in information — details of current events, for example — and generate
news copy, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss
the product.
One of the three people familiar with the product said that
Google believed it could serve as a kind of personal assistant for journalists,
automating some tasks to free up time for others, and that the company saw it
as responsible technology that could help steer the publishing industry away
from the pitfalls of generative AI.
Some executives who saw
Google’s pitch described it as
unsettling, asking not to be identified discussing a confidential matter. Two
people said it seemed to take for granted the effort that went into producing
accurate and artful news stories.
A Google spokesperson did not immediately respond to a
request for comment. The Times and the Post declined to comment.
“We have an excellent relationship with Google, and we
appreciate Sundar Pichai’s long-term commitment to journalism,” a News Corp
spokesperson said in a statement, referring to
Google’s CEO.
Jeff Jarvis, a journalism professor, and media commentator,
said Google’s new tool, as described, had potential upsides and downsides.
“If this technology can deliver factual information
reliably, journalists should use the tool,” said Jarvis, director of the
Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate
School of Journalism at the City University of New York.
“If, on the other hand, it is misused by journalists and
news organizations on topics that require nuance and cultural understanding,”
he continued, “then it could damage the credibility not only of the tool but of
the news organizations that use it.”
News organizations around the world are grappling with
whether to use artificial intelligence tools in their newsrooms. Many,
including the Times, NPR, and Insider, have notified employees that they intend
to explore potential uses of AI to see how it might be responsibly applied to
the high-stakes realm of news, where seconds count and accuracy is paramount.
But Google’s new tool is sure to spur anxiety, too, among
journalists who have been writing their own articles for centuries. Some news
organizations, including The Associated Press, have long used
AI to generate stories about matters including corporate earnings reports, but they remain a
small fraction of the service’s articles compared with those generated by
journalists.
Artificial intelligence could change that, enabling users to
generate articles on a wider scale that, if not edited and checked carefully,
could spread misinformation and affect how traditionally written stories are
perceived.
While Google has moved at a breakneck pace to develop and
deploy generative AI, the technology has also presented some challenges to the
advertising juggernaut. While Google has traditionally played the role of
curating information and sending users to publishers’ websites to read more,
tools like its chatbot, Bard, present factual assertions that are sometimes
incorrect and do not send traffic to more authoritative sources, such as news
publishers.
The technology has been introduced as governments around the
world have called on Google to give news outlets a larger slice of its
advertising revenue. After the Australian government tried to force Google to
negotiate with publishers over payments in 2021, the company forged more
partnerships with news organizations in various countries, under its News
Showcase program.
Publishers and other content creators have already
criticized Google and other major AI companies for using decades of their
articles and posts to help
train these AI systems, without compensating the
publishers. News organizations including NBC News and the Times have taken a
position against AIs sucking up their data without permission.
Read more Technology
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
