According to Semafor, The New York Times (NYT), one of the most combative outlets against big tech companies that use generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), has allegedly given the green light to using AI within the newsroom for tasks not directly related to news stories, such as social media texts and SEO-optimized headlines, among others.
This means that even one of the media companies most inclined to take judicial action to defend its rights, particularly copyright, is set to introduce this technology through a new system called Echo. This tool has been rolled out together with clear instructions on what can and cannot be done with it.
At the renowned American newspaper, they claim that this technology can help their readers in different areas, enhancing information and making it more accessible for some through text-to-audio conversion, for example.
Approval was also reportedly granted for creating code, and the use of certain products like NotebookLM is being permitted, although always under controlled conditions approved by the company’s legal department.
Journalists can now use AI to generate headlines, summaries, and promotions for audiences that adhere to SEO guidelines, suggest edits, generate interview questions, etc.
What AI cannot be used for is to write or significantly edit an article, nor to publish AI-generated images or videos. The media company has no desire to engage in practices that could undermine its legal actions against OpenAI and other tech firms.
Within the newsroom, according to Semafor, these AI developments are treated with scepticism, as they may encourage laziness, undermine creativity, and we always face the risk of Artificial Intelligence producing inaccurate or false content.
All of this is happening amid significant mistrust of AI in the newsroom. In fact, the first layoffs have already taken place as AI began taking over certain tasks, resulting in discontent and union disputes.
Previously, in 2023, and aside from the lawsuit, The New York Times made headlines not only for blocking AI in its robots.txt file, but also for explicitly banning it in its legal texts and urging the entire industry to do the same.
* Original article written in Spanish, translated with chatGPT and reviewed in English by Jorge Mediavilla.
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