As newsrooms continue to explore AI’s potential and what it could mean for their work, the tech companies themselves are taking steps to further their exploration.
The latest effort is from the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, founded by former Philadelphia Inquirer owner H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest in 2016, which is collaborating with OpenAI and Microsoft to “help newsrooms explore and implement ways in which artificial intelligence can help drive business sustainability and innovation in local journalism.”
In total, $10 million will be awarded over two years to support projects by Chicago Public Media (Chicago Sun-Times, WBEZ), Minnesota Star Tribune, Newsday, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Seattle Times, for AI focuses varying from text summarization and translation to media analyzation and marketing services.
“Through these fellowships — and by sharing results with the broader news industry — we will help empower local newsrooms to explore, implement and advocate for AI business solutions that uphold the highest ethical standards while strengthening their future prospects,” says Lenfest Institute CEO and executive director Jim Friedlich, who told Axios the partnership is the largest AI-specific local news collaboration. “”The scale, we think, is significant … [and] the Collective puts the notion of a live lab on steroids, funding embedded engineers, enterprise software, and product development across multiple organizations at scale for open sharing and replication across the news industry.”
This is OpenAI’s second such local news initiative, having announced a $5 million partnership with the American Journalism Project last summer that has since funded 13 nonprofit newsrooms, according to Nieman Lab.
“While nothing will replace the central role of reporters, we believe that AI technology can help in the research, investigation, distribution, and monetization of important journalism,” says OpenAI’s Tom Rubin. “We’re deeply invested in supporting smaller, independent publishers … ensuring they have access to the same cutting-edge tools and opportunities as larger organizations.”
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