The AP's vice president for standards and inclusion, Amanda Barrett, emphasized that while AI can enhance journalism, it is not seen as a replacement for journalists. The guidelines also advise journalists to be wary of far-fetched claims from AI developers and to avoid quoting company representatives about their technology without providing a check on their assertions. The AP also provided guidance on referring to the inaccuracies that AI can produce, suggesting terms like "hallucination" or "confabulation" to describe such issues.
Key takeaways:
- The Associated Press has updated its standards to caution journalists about common pitfalls in coverage of artificial intelligence, including avoiding language that attributes human characteristics to AI systems.
- While the AP has used AI technology for some tasks since 2014, it does not see AI as a replacement for journalists and has issued guidelines for its staff on how to use and handle AI-generated content.
- The AP urges its staff to treat any output from a generative AI tool as unvetted source material and to apply their editorial judgment and AP’s sourcing standards when considering any information for publication.
- New entries in the AP Stylebook caution journalists to beware of far-fetched claims from AI developers and to avoid quoting company representatives about the power of their technology without providing a check on their assertions.