The Associated Press is licensing a portion of its news archive to OpenAI under an agreement that will explore the use of generative AI in news, the companies said Thursday, a move that could set the precedent for similar partnerships between industries.
The news publisher will gain access to OpenAI’s technology and product expertise as part of the deal, financial details of which were not disclosed.
The AP also did not disclose how it would integrate OpenAI’s technology into its news operations. The publisher already uses AI to automate corporate earnings reports, recap sports events, and transcripts for certain live events.
Its trove of news will help provide the massive amounts of data needed to train artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT, which have dazzled consumers and businesses with their ability to plan vacations, summarize legal documents, and write computer code.
However, news publications have been slow to adopt the technology due to concerns about its tendency to generate factually incorrect information, as well as challenges in differentiating between human-produced content and computer programs.
“Generative AI is a fast-moving space with tremendous implications for the news industry,” said Kristin Heitmann, AP’s senior vice president and chief revenue officer.
“News organizations need to have a seat at the table… so newsrooms large and small can leverage this technology to benefit journalism.”
Some outlets are already using generative AI for their content. BuzzFeed had announced that it will use AI to power personality quizzes on its site, and the New York Times used ChatGPT to create a Valentine’s Day message generator this year.
AP’s “feedback, along with access to its high-quality factual text archive, will help improve the capabilities and utility of OpenAI systems,” said Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s COO.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
