Google is paying some news organizations five figures to publish AI-assisted articles.
According to Adweek, the group of independent publishers have beta access to a generative AI platform that Google has not released publicly.
The available suite of tools lets publishers create articles with a few quick clicks by curating a list of links from other organizations to a dashboard. These links are then summarized into a new article, Adweek reports.
The original sources are not asked to consent before their content is scraped. While a human editor examines the articles before publication, the pieces don’t need to be labelled as AI-assisted.
The outlets are tasked with publishing three AI-assisted articles each day, one newsletter each week, and a marketing campaign every month. Publishers must share analytics and feedback with Google. In exchange, they receive a “five-figure sum” for a 12-month period.
The AI platform is unable to use information not reported from other sources, Adweek notes.
In a statement to MobileSyrup, a Google spokesperson said the tools aren’t replacing the “essential” role of journalists.
“This speculation about this tool being used to re-publish other outlets’ work is inaccurate. The experimental tool is being responsibly designed to help small, local publishers produce high-quality journalism using factual content from public data sources — like a local government’s public information office or health authority. Publishers remain in full editorial control of what is ultimately published on their site.”
The tech giant further noted the goal of these tools is to help journalists use “emerging technologies” in their work. It’s unclear if any Canadian publications are involved in the project.
Google’s involvement in the Canadian news industry has seen the company agree to contribute $100 million annually under the Online News Act. The November announcement followed months of back and forth between the Canadian government and tech giant, which threatened to remove Canadian news links from Search, News, and Discover.
Image credit: Shutterstock
Source: Adweek
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