Despite its excitement about AI, the Times maintains that its journalism will continue to be produced by human journalists. The publication has had a contentious history with generative AI, having blocked OpenAI's web crawler from scraping its content and later suing the AI company and its major investor, Microsoft. It remains uncertain whether the Times will collaborate with an AI model provider or develop its own tools.
Key takeaways:
- The New York Times is building a team to explore the use of generative AI in its newsroom, with a focus on prototyping uses of AI and machine learning to assist with reporting and presentation.
- The team will be led by Zach Seward, the head of AI initiatives, and will include a machine learning engineer, a software engineer, a designer, and editors.
- The Times has previously had a contentious relationship with generative AI, having blocked OpenAI's web crawler from scraping its content and subsequently suing the AI company and Microsoft.
- Despite the integration of AI, the Times maintains that its journalism will always be reported, written, and edited by human journalists.