OpenAI commits $5 million dollar to support local news. Here’s the irony

Generative AI models such as ChatGPT have the potential to revolutionize many different industries and optimize business practices in a way that improves productivity. OpenAI says it's now attempting to use AI to boost local news. 

In a $5 million partnership with the American Journalism Project (AJP), OpenAI commits to supporting the expansion of AJP's work, exploring ways that AI can support the local news sector and helping local levels fight disinformation. 

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The AJP is a venture philanthropy organization founded in 2019 whose mission is to help local news thrive and address market failure in local news. 

“In these early days of generative AI, we have the opportunity to ensure that local news organizations, and their communities, are involved in shaping its implications. With this partnership, we aim to promote ways for AI to enhance — rather than imperil — journalism,” said Sarabeth Berman, CEO of AJP in the release. 

AJP says it will use the funds to experiment with AI by creating a technology and AI studio made up of a team who will evaluate AI applications within local news, find the best ways to leverage AI, and act as an intermediary between external vendors such as OpenAI and AJP's portfolio. 

With the funds, AJP will also make pilot investments, giving approximately ten of its portfolio organizations direct grants to help them explore AI's potential as well. 

In addition to the initial $5 million, OpenAI is also gifting AJP and its portfolio organizations $5 million in OpenAI API credits to help them access, build, and use the technologies. 

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This partnership is interesting because ChatGPT hasn't had a very symbiotic relationship with the news sector since its launch. 

OpenAI trained its models with the entirety of the internet, including all the news content ever published online. 

This implications here are twofold. OpenAI never asked the publications for their permission to use their content for its AI training, and most importantly, the publications and authors don't get credited when their research and work is cited by the chatbot. 

The Washington Post compiled a list of websites that were used to train ChatGPT and make it as smart as it is. 13% of the millions of websites it was trained on were in the News and Media category, including ZDNET. 

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One way OpenAI could support local news, and the news sector in general, is by linking to and crediting the organizations for their information which the authors had to research and work for.

In turn, the news publications could get more traffic, increasing their revenue and allowing for the creation of further stories to potentially create a more mutually beneficial relationship between news publications and AI.