Google is reported to be testing an AI tool called ‘Genesis’ that can create news articles based on current events.
The tool has been presented to a number of major US news outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and News Corp, as a helpful aid for journalists rather than a replacement.
Google has been keen to emphasise that Genesis is intended to assist journalists in tasks such as generating headlines and writing in different styles, not to replace their role in reporting and fact-checking.
Some executives at the New York Times, who saw the pitch, expressed concerns that the tool seemed to overlook the effort required to produce accurate and well-crafted news stories. Nevertheless, Google views Genesis as a “personal assistant for journalists” that can automate certain tasks and potentially steer the publishing industry away from the challenges of generative AI.
This latest development comes after OpenAI collaborated with the Associated Press, using the news agency’s archive to train its ChatGPT maker. AI tools are now increasingly capable of performing tasks traditionally carried out by authors, writers, and translators, with an estimation that close to 50% of such tasks could be automated.
Apple is also working on an AI-powered chatbot called Apple GPT, which may pose a challenge to ChatGPT. However, Apple has not yet announced its specific plans for releasing the technology to consumers. The chief executive of Apple, Tim Cook, has expressed a keen interest in AI technology.
Why does this matter?
For web content producers, there is large change on the way. Specifically within the Google space, news of an engine overhaul (Magi), Search Generative Experience (SGE) experiment and now Genesis are obvious indicators that search engine marketing is moving into a new era.
While newsrooms explore the possibilities of AI, there are already concerns about AI-generated content farms powered by bots, as revealed by an investigation by NewsGuard, an anti-misinformation organisation. This highlights the need for careful consideration of AI’s impact on the media landscape.