What Is Google’s New AI Tool for News Articles?

Google has started testing a new AI product that can write news. This new AI tool is named ‘Genesis’ and it was reported by The New York Times. 

The new tool has been demonstrated to executives at several major news organisations, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and News Corp.

The New York Times states: “The tool, known internally by the working title Genesis, can take in information — details of current events, for example — and generate news content.”

According to the reports, Genesis works by ingesting a large amount of text data, including news articles, blog posts, and social media posts. 

It then uses this data to learn how to write news articles in a variety of styles. Once it has learned how to write, Genesis can generate new news articles on a variety of topics.

The tech giant mentions that this tool serves no purpose of replacing human journalists. Rather, it will serve as a tool that will help journalists write faster, do fact-checks and generate headlines. 

Genesis has received mixed reactions. According to the New York Times, Jenn Crider, a Google spokeswoman, said in a statement that “in partnership with news publishers, especially smaller publishers, we’re in the earliest stages of exploring ideas to potentially provide A.I.-enabled tools to help their journalists with their work.”

“Quite simply, these tools are not intended to, and cannot, replace the essential role journalists have in reporting, creating and fact-checking their articles,” she added. 

This new tool is still under development, but some media executives found it unsettling. They believed that it would take the effort that goes into producing accurate and artful news reports and make it pointless.

According to the New York Times, “The Times and The Post declined to comment.”

Google's recent moves in the AI space have not been universally welcomed. The company's decision to scrape publically available data has been met with a lawsuit, and this move could have a significant impact on the journalism industry.

READ| Why Is Google Facing a Lawsuit Against Its Privacy Policies?

Jeff Jarvis, Director of the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, told the New York Times “If this technology can deliver factual information reliably, journalists should use the tool.”

“If, on the other hand, it is misused by journalists and news organizations on topics that require nuance and cultural understanding,” he added, “then it could damage the credibility not only of the tool, but of the news organizations that use it.”

In conclusion, Google's new AI tool for news articles has the potential to be a major breakthrough for the news industry. 

It could help journalists write faster, more accurately, and more engagingly. But, it is also important for news organisations to use Genesis responsibly and to be aware of the potential risks associated with the technology.