Google's News-Writing 'Genesis' AI Has Journalists Worried
Google is reportedly testing an AI writing tool capable of generating news articles, and has even started approaching a handful of new outlets to pitch a sales idea. Citing internal sources, The New York Times — which was also solicited by Google — reports that the tool is codenamed "Genesis." Instead of pushing it as a replacement for actual news writers, Google is selling Genesis as some kind of personal assistant for journalists that will automate the process of information gathering for them to free up time for other chores.
Gathering information is the crucial part here, as AI models like Bard and ChatGPT have a well-known tendency to hallucinate, occasionally pushing out imaginary events as real facts. Google's news-writing tool appears to have a massive lead here. Genesis can reportedly pull up details of current events as well as things in the past, while the likes of ChatGPT and Bard refrain from either commenting on real-time events, or simply avoid answering due to lack of that information in their training data.
It seems obvious that Google is leveraging the ocean of information — both ongoing and past events — to power Genesis and its information gathering tools. Among the organizations that have been pitched the idea by Google are The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and News Corp, but not everyone is happy about the idea. The most obvious contention is that Genesis would likely discount the sheer effort and creative thinking that goes into reporting "accurate and artful news stories."
Google enters fiery AI pit
"Some executives who saw Google's pitch described it as unsettling," says the report. The concerns are not unfounded, and it could very well be the inflection point for the publishing industry, which is already at odds with Google for not duly compensating them and using their work to train AI models.
At the same time, Google is aware of the risks and wants to clear the air, too. "These tools are not intended to, and cannot, replace the essential role journalists have in reporting, creating and fact-checking their articles," Google spokesperson Jenn Crider was quoted as saying. She indicated that Genesis could assist with tasks like brainstorming headline ideas and writing styles.
Protests like SAG-AFTRA and the writer's strike have already been fighting for better compensation, and more importantly, against AI snatching away their jobs. In the news industry, however, AI's influx has already made an impact. Outlets like Insider, The Times, and NPR are ready to experiment with AI writing tools. The results haven't always been great.
CNET used an AI tool to write finance-related stories, but they were caught in controversy due to multiple inaccuracies and "very dumb errors." Gizmodo also started using an AI bot to write stories, but it made serious errors, and the newsroom staff was not happy about its publishing either. It would be interesting to see whether Google's Genesis can stand out where others failed, and if it can change the newsroom landscape forever.