Great article from a media institute on how journalists are organizing to fight misuse of AI

As AI enters newsrooms, unions push for worker protections

Journalists are fighting to ensure that AI won't replace their jobs and that content produced with the help of AI tools meets journalistic standards

By: Angela Fu
September 18, 2023

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Unions representing hundreds of journalists, including editorial staff at The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times, have proposed contract language addressing AI this summer. At least one unit has found success. Last month, journalists at the Financial Times Specialist ratified their first contract, which includes the right to bargain over the effects of newly introduced technology like AI.

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Other unions are still struggling to negotiate AI-related agreements. The chief concern among many is the potential loss of jobs. The proposals put forth by the APP-MCJ Guild and the AP News Guild, which represents journalists and technicians working for the Associated Press in the United States, both require their respective companies to provide 90 days advance notice of new technology affecting newsroom functions and prohibit using such tools to reduce or eliminate union work.

“If such technology involves the use of artificial intelligence (AI), including machine learning or deep learning, it shall be limited to supplementing the collection, organization, recording or maintenance of information,” their proposals read in part. (APP-MCJ Guild and the AP News Guild are separate units, but they share the NewsGuild as a parent union.) “AI shall not be used to perform work that is editorial in nature, including but not limited to the interpretation or analysis of information, communications with sources or generation of news content or illustrations.”

IAPE Local 1096 — which represents 1,400 Dow Jones employees, including Wall Street Journal journalists — has also put together a proposal barring the company from displacing union members via AI. Union president and Dow Jones content operations specialist Jodi Green said that some audio journalists have shared concerns about AI being used to replicate their voices to generate content.

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