Google says it is developing AI tools to help journalists write headlines and in different writing styles, but some are concerned that AI could replace jobs in the economically struggling industry.
US technology giant Google says it is in the process of developing artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help journalists write headlines and stories.
“Our goal is to give journalists the option to use these emerging technologies to enhance their work and productivity,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement to Euronews.
Artificial intelligence is growing rapidly and there is growing concern that it could replace jobs. Questions have also been raised about the accuracy of the information created by AI.
“Simply put, these tools are not intended to, and cannot, replace the essential role journalists play in reporting, producing and fact-checking their articles,” Google said in a statement.
The company said it will build the tool in partnership with news publishers, especially smaller publishers.
The New York Times reported on Thursday that an AI tool that generates news stories was offered to several large US news organizations. The tool can take information to create news content.
Using articles to train AI
To create AI tools that can produce human-like content, tech companies have to include vast amounts of written work such as news articles and books. There is debate as to whether these companies are properly compensating the artists and others for the work used to train these systems.
Last week, the AP and chatGPT-maker OpenAI announced a deal for the artificial intelligence company to license the AP’s archive of news stories dating back to 1985. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Chatbots like ChatGPT and Google’s own Bard are part of a class of so-called generative AI tools that are becoming increasingly effective at mimicking different writing styles, as well as visual arts and other media.
Many people are already using these to save time writing emails and other regular documents or to help with homework.
However, the systems also have a tendency to tell lies that people unfamiliar with the subject may not notice, making them risky for applications such as news gathering or medical advice.
“We’re all in favor of technological advances helping our reporters and editors do their jobs,” said Vin Chervu, president of the News Media Guild, which represents some journalists in the US. “We don’t want AI to do our job.”
“The most important thing for us is to protect our jobs and uphold the standards of journalism,” he said.
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