AI: OpenAI will invest BRL 5 million in local US journalism – 07/19/2023 – Market

OpenAI announced, this Tuesday (18), a partnership with the AJP (American Journalism Project), a philanthropic enterprise organization that supports local newspapers in the United States. The investment is US$ 5 million (R$ 24.1 million) to finance experimental AI (artificial intelligence) projects in journalism.

The ChatGPT owner will also offer up to $5 million in company credits to “establish lines of dialogue between the local news industry and OpenAI, and develop tools that can assist local news organizations.”

For Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the action aims to rebuild the US local news sector and reinforces the company’s “belief” that artificial intelligence should benefit everyone and be used as a tool to improve work.

The executive’s statement comes at a time when AI is able to create fake journalistic websites and detecting them is a challenge even for Altman’s company detector, according to the internet reliability service NewsGuard.

In May, US media mogul Barry Diller said the use of technology “will be destructive of journalism unless publishers can use copyright law to exercise control.”

Sarabeth Berman, CEO of the AJP, said “get smart” about the potential benefits and harms of technology to ensure local journalism remains an essential pillar of democracy. She also stated that, with this partnership, the organization intends to promote ways for AI to enhance, not threaten, journalism.

According to the AJP, the funding will be used in the following ways:

• Creation of a technology and AI studio, which will provide expert guidance to newspapers, teaching them how to make better use of the tools. It will also promote collaboration with external partners such as OpenAI;
• Conducting pilot investments, distributing direct subsidies to around ten of its associated newspapers. Your work will serve as an example to the entire local news field;
• Contribute up to $5 million in API credits than AJP. API is an interface that gives users access to pre-trained AI models developed by OpenAI.