Gannett To Try Generative AI

Publisher Gannett plans to include generative artificial intelligence in the system it uses to publish stories as it and other news organizations begin to roll out the popular technology that may help save money and improve efficiency, according to Reuters.

But the largest U.S. newspaper publisher with over 200 daily outlets said it will include humans in the process so that the technology can’t be deployed automatically, without oversight. Generative AI is a way to create efficiencies and eliminate some tedious tasks for journalists, Renn Turiano, senior vice president and head of product at Gannett said in a recent interview.

However, Turiano added, “The desire to go fast was a mistake for some of the other news services,” he said without singling out a specific outlet. “We’re not making that mistake.”

Gannett is hardly alone in its balancing act. For instance, Reuters President Paul Bascobert said in a statement Thursday, responding to a reporter's request for comment about the company’s plans, that as the news agency embraces AI technologies, it is "taking a responsible approach that safeguards accuracy and fosters trust.”

Many U.S. newsrooms are grappling with how best to incorporate AI tools that generate new content or data in response to a prompt, or question, by a user.

But generative AI's limitations, which include the tendency to “hallucinate,” or serve up misinformation with a veneer of certainty, are particularly problematic in an industry that demands accuracy, some experts say.

Gannett’s strategy reflects the measured approach a number of mainstream newsrooms are taking.

Next quarter Gannett will roll out a live pilot program using AI to identify the most important points of an article and create bulleted summaries at the top of it. It will launch that feature in the fourth quarter at USA Today. Journalists will have the final say, deciding whether to use what the AI proposed. Gannett will eventually incorporate that summarization technology into its publishing system.