How the New York Times uses Gen AI in its newsroom

Those days are over.....

The New York Times embraces AI in the newsroom.

No, it won't replace journalists. AI is only supposed to make their work easier. 

But I can imagine how that headline can be read or interpreted incorrectly without the proper context. So here it is.

1. AI as a productivity tool

According to Semafor, the NYT will make a range of external and internal AI tools available to its staff to help them with a range of tasks: from summarising articles and briefings to writing SEO headlines or generating some code.

This is where the importance of AI literacy kicks in. The paper clearly understands that AI can help turn “mundane” into “done” much more efficiently than a pre-morning coffee human.

The capabilities of Gen AI go beyond the basic tasks like writing, and the NYT clearly wants to tap into that opportunity. 

Why sift through endless transcripts in search of a specific snippet if AI can help you get there faster.

Why limit your audience to English and Spanish speakers if AI can provide alternative language versions on demand?

Why not make all written content accessible as audio files?

You get my gist. 

But it requires education and improved AI literacy. Which brings us to the next point.

2. Guidelines, guardrails and training

Securing its own credibility, the NYT made sure the new, or any future, AI tools are used correctly and with specific guidelines in place.

The AI guidelines cited by Semafor state that "Generative AI can assist our journalists in uncovering the truth and helping more people understand the world. Machine learning already helps us report stories we couldn’t otherwise, and generative AI has the potential to bolster our journalistic capabilities even more."

The training documents quoted by Semafor go as far as suggesting specific prompts, for example:

📰 Summarize this Times article in a concise, conversational voice for a newsletter.

📰 Can you propose five search-optimized headlines for this Times article?

📰 How many times was Al mentioned in these episodes of Hard Fork?

Some uses are not allowed (or encouraged): drafting an article is a no-no, for example, as is the use of AI to generate images or video.

Brainstorming questions, analysing documents or suggesting SEO alternatives is one thing. What happens next is still down to us, humans.

And speaking of humans....

3. Overcoming the (internal) resistance

The will be skepticism and resistance. It's normal, it's human.

Semafor quoted some NYT employees who fear AI tools will inspire laziness, kill creativity or help create inaccurate information. 

All valid fears, therefore the guidelines, their implementation and above all ongoing AI literacy improvement efforts are critical.

This will apply to all newsrooms that will, inevitably, follow suit.