OpenAI, Microsoft Funding $10 Million In Grants For AI-Powered Journalism 18
OpenAI and Microsoft will give grants of up to $10 million to bring more AI tools into the newsroom. The grants will go to Chicago Public Media, the Minnesota Star Tribune, Newsday (in Long Island, NY), The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Seattle Times. "Each of the publications will hire a two-year AI fellow to develop projects for implementing the technology and improving business sustainability," reports Engadget. "Three more outlets are expected to receive fellowship grants in a second round." From the report: OpenAI and Microsoft are each contributing $2.5 million in direct funding as well as $2.5 million in software and enterprise credits. The Lenfest Institute of Journalism is collaborating with OpenAI and Microsoft on the project, and announced the news today.
Nobody asked for that (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
There are no air qoutes big enough (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
to go around the word "journalism" in that headline.
It won't cost OpenAI and MS a cent.
They'll just get re-imbursed for the grants they give via the Countering the PRC Malign Influence Fund Authorization Act of 2023
https://www.congress.gov/bill/... [congress.gov]
Another way to attack real journalism. (Score:1)
...boring from within to further attack real journalism.
So they're openly paying folks to fill... (Score:4, Insightful)
No one likes spammers. No one likes Microsoft. Corporate black-hats don't need to exist.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
If it was a good service or product, wouldn't outfits be lining up to buy it?
Microsoft is in the "fuck you money" stage of the game, where they can pay people to destroy their own segment of society. Too bad their focusing on a part of society that's already suffering from the need to generate profit. Now Microsoft is incentivizing shitting the bed so thoroughly that no one will ever trust "journalism" again.
AI is the antithesis of journalism! (Score:5, Insightful)
The point of the journalist is to truthfully and accurately record the momentous events of the world, not make up nice, plausible, but false stories which reinforce the reader's preconceived biases.
AI will not help with any of this. AI can't see; can't perceive what is going on; can't understand the emotional, social, political, environmental, etc... impact of anything, and can't tell truth from falsehood, only regurgitate the patterns on which it was trained.
Because democracy depends upon a well informed electorate for proper functioning, AI is one of the few technologies which can effectively subvert the proper functioning of democracies. It represents an existential threat to democracy itself when used to shape the information presented to the general public. It is bad enough that the average journalist can't present factual information without their personal opinion; how bad will it be when the only opinions (and facts) presented to the general public are those which suit the interests of the AI owners?
Re: (Score:2)
The goal of this is not to help journalism as it should be. It is to control it. Using AI will just eliminate any human factors that might get in the way of that control.
Supply side or demand side motivation? (Score:4, Insightful)
Two issues came immediately to mind.
1
See post above by Gillbates "AI is the antithesis of journalism!". He says it best. This really can't be good for society and journalism.
2
Who's throwing the party? Did the grantees (the newspapers) request this, or did MS-AI "market" and upsell them on this.
There is a huge difference between an industry and its experts saying "Here's an interesting new development, maybe it's worth looking into",
- versus -
Snake oil hucksters giving unsolicited hard sells to uninvited doors they knock on.
A lot of of new modern computer and internet technology, the good and the bad, hasn't needed much upselling, because it is of natural interest to businesses and people without any more persuasion then "here it is, look what it can do", and it sells itself.
But, some things like crypto-blockchain, AR-VR, Windows anything since XP - I'm sure you can all name a few - seem more like the inventors-investors-executives struggling to push products that nobody asked for or mostly don't want, rather than companies responding to bona fide market trends and consumer requests.
The whole AI thing feels like that - the AI "industry" desperately trying to sell something few seem to want or value (yes, I know there are some exceptions).
This report about the AI dogs pushing AI into an industry in a way that is the antithesis of what that industry does and represents - not good.
Perhaps, unbeknownst to the rest of us, the news organizations are now laughing their asses off, having gotten some free cash, at a time when real journalism is under stress and duress, knowing full well that they will "not succeed" or find anything of value in having ChatGPT write their articles. "Put it on page 22", next to the toilet paper classifieds." We can hope.
Re: (Score:2)
"The whole AI thing feels like that - the AI "industry" desperately trying to sell something few seem to want or value"
To me, it sounds like OpenAI and Microsoft are threatening journalism to fork over the money or else.
Re: (Score:2)
Journalism has been walking to the gallows for decades now. You have to hunt your ass off to find actual journalism in the United States. Most of the real journalism I pick up now comes from other countries. Our "journalists" are all opinion piece mouthpieces for the owner class, stirring the rabble at the behest of their leaders, trying to keep us all at each other's throats. Rather than reporting facts, you get a constant stream of opinion pieces about, when you really analyze it, absolutely *NOTHING* of
Farewell, journalism. (Score:2)
You are forever in my heart. It's been a pleasure knowing you.
And, of course. thanks for all the fish.
why (the answer is money) (Score:2)
CPM is a non-profit print/radio media company that operates Chicago's NPR station (WBEZ) - public radio needs funding as always indicated by their pledge drives.
Journalism is a dying art, mainly because journalists can't make a living like they did 30 years ago. The real money goes to the entertainers who can foment the most rage. Hannity, Ingraham, etc.
"Each of the publications will hire a two-year AI fellow"
So they're getting ML/Data Science interns. There's no "AI Fellow" title once the industry gets ov
AI Doom Loop (Score:2)
This will just accelerate the AI doom loop.
As AI sucks up more random sketchy stuff from the Internet, it deteriorates the quality of responses until all you are left with is jibberish.
grants could really help these newsrooms innovate (Score:1)