Over recent years, Google has been quietly engaging in agreements with publishers, providing them with the opportunity to utilize new generative AI tools to publish stories. According to a report in Adweek, these deals are worth tens of thousands of dollars annually and are a part of the Google News Initiative (GNI), a program that supports various resources for newsrooms, including media literacy projects and fact-checking tools. However, the use of generative AI tools for publishing purposes marks a new and potentially controversial direction for the tech giant.
The program, currently being tested with a select group of smaller publishers, offers beta tools that enable under-resourced publishers to create aggregated content efficiently. These tools index recently published reports from various sources, summarize them, and generate new articles. Google has emphasized that these tools are designed to assist small, local publishers in producing high-quality journalism using factual content from public data sources like government offices or health authorities. Publishers retain full editorial control over the content published on their platforms.
Although the specifics of the financial compensation offered to publishers are not disclosed, Adweek reports it to be a five-figure sum per year. In exchange for this payment, media organizations are required to publish a specified number of articles per day, along with a weekly newsletter and a monthly marketing campaign utilizing the AI tools.
Notably, publishers participating in the program are not mandated to disclose their use of AI, nor are the websites providing the aggregated content informed of its utilization in AI-generated stories. The AI-generated text undergoes review by human editors before publication, with a color-coded system indicating the reliability of each section.
In response to inquiries, Google stated that they are at the early stages of exploring AI-enabled tools to support journalists in their work. The tech company asserts that these tools are not meant to replace the crucial role of journalists in reporting, creating, and fact-checking articles.
While the exact motivations behind Google's arrangement with publishers remain unclear, this practice echoes similar strategies adopted by tech companies in the past. For instance, Facebook's payment to publishers for live video content in 2016 ultimately resulted in erroneous metrics and subsequent changes to the platform's algorithm. This development raises questions about the potential impact and ethical considerations of utilizing generative AI tools in journalism.
It is crucial for publishers and tech companies alike to tread carefully in this new digital landscape to maintain transparency and integrity in news reporting, protecting the credibility of journalistic work in the age of AI.
