[ti:News Organizations Team Up with AI Companies]
[al:Science & Technology]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2023-07-27]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]Several major news organizations have teamed up with artificial intelligence (AI) developers to find new tools to help journalists do their work.
[00:15.41]AI developer OpenAI recently signed a deal with the American Journalism Project (AJP) to use AI tools to support local news across the United States.
[00:32.17]OpenAI is backed by American software maker Microsoft.
[00:38.83]The AJP is a nonprofit group that provides financial assistance to local nonprofit U.S. news organizations.
[00:50.53]Late last year, OpenAI released an AI tool called ChatGPT.
[00:59.25]ChatGPT and other so-called "chatbots" have demonstrated the ability to lead human-like discussions and produce complex writing based on short, written commands. Such tools are also known as "generative AI" or "large language models."
[01:23.45]In its deal with the AJP, OpenAI promised to provide $5 million to expand the project's work and strengthen local journalism efforts. 
[01:38.18]OpenAI is also offering the AJP an additional $5 million to help local news organizations deploy the latest AI tools.
[01:52.26]Sarabeth Berman is head of the American Journalism Project.
[01:58.42]She said in a statement the cooperation with OpenAI aims to ensure that local news organizations can help shape the ways AI is used in journalism. 
[02:13.61]Berman added, the partnership seeks to find ways for AI to improve journalism, "rather than imperil" it.
[02:25.35]In addition, the partnership aims to support AJP's efforts to "create healthier information ecosystems" at the local level to fight misinformation in news. 
[02:40.52]The deal will help create a studio that can be used by local news organizations to experiment with OpenAI's technology.
[02:52.85]The AJP's deal with OpenAI is one of several partnerships recently established between AI developers and news organizations.
[03:05.63]Earlier this month, OpenAI announced it had signed a deal with The Associated Press to license the news agency's collection of news stories.
[03:19.29]OpenAI will use AP's news stories to train and develop its chatbot tool. 
[03:27.62]No financial details of the deal were announced.
[03:32.24]In addition, the two companies said in a statement they are examining how the AP could use "generative AI in news products and services."
[03:45.96]The deal came after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) informed OpenAI it had opened an investigation into whether the company had taken part in unfair business activities. 
[04:04.21]The investigation reportedly centers on whether OpenAI violated trade rules by training its language model on publicly available data.
[04:17.39]Some news organizations, book writers and other creative artists have brought legal actions or sought compensation from companies that used their works to train AI systems.
[04:33.25]The AP said it currently does not use any generative AI in its news story production. 
[04:42.40]But it has long used other forms of AI. This includes a system that automatically produces corporate earnings stories and some sports reports.
[04:55.62]U.S.-based search engine Google also recently confirmed it was in talks with major news publishers about using a new AI tool it developed to help journalists report and write their stories. 
[05:14.09]The project was first reported by The New York Times. 
[05:18.98]The tool is being tested by the Times, as well as The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, the French news agency AFP reported.
[05:30.25]The Times said the AI tool - which Google calls Genesis - was still in early form testing. 
[05:39.91]However, a demonstration of the system reportedly left newspaper officials "unsettled" when they saw the tool's abilities.
[05:50.75]A Google spokeswoman confirmed in a statement the company had held discussions with news publishers on providing AI-based tools "to help their journalists with their work." 
[06:05.30]The tool being tested was designed to do things like help journalists choose headlines and write in different styles, the Times reported.
[06:17.92]The spokeswoman added that such tools were not meant to "replace the essential role journalists have in reporting, creating and fact-checking" their stories.
[06:33.20]I'm Bryan Lynn.