Associated Press Establishes Guidelines for Journalists' Use of Generative AI

The largest American news agency, Associated Press (AP), has released instructions for utilizing artificial intelligence in journalists' work, emphasizing that it does not view this technology as a "replacement for journalists under any circumstances." This announcement comes from a blog post by the agency.

The use of ChatGPT for creating publication texts is discouraged, though the possibility of experimenting with it remains. Any output generated through generative AI is considered by the agency as "unverified source material" and must adhere to existing AP source standards.

In addition, the agency has no intention of employing artificial intelligence for editing photos, videos, or audio. Furthermore, images created by AI will not be used unless they are integral to the news story (in such cases, AP will indicate AI-generated images in captions).

Authors are prohibited from supplying confidential information to AI tools. They must ensure that other sources they use are "free from AI-generated content" and avoid "casual use of AI-generated content for disseminating misinformation."

Other publications closely monitor Associated Press's actions in setting standards for using generative AI, given that most news outlets use or modify the AP Stylebook—a guide to American English style and grammar created by AP editors.

Interestingly, despite the recommendation to avoid using ChatGPT, the agency has entered an agreement with OpenAI, the developers, regarding the use of AP news for training generative artificial intelligence.

Simultaneously, Associated Press employs automated tools to create quick summaries of financial reports and descriptions of certain sports events. Previously, it joined other news organizations in signing an open letter advocating for greater transparency in data used to train generative AI models.

These AP guidelines have emerged in light of news that The New York Times is limiting the use of its data for training AI models and has exited a coalition engaged in discussions with AI companies about training data.