Newsweek Updates Policy on Using Artificial Intelligence
September 20, 2023 - In light of rapid advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), and particularly Generative AI that can produce text and images, Newsweek has updated its policy on using AI.
This underlines Newsweek's commitment to maintaining its standards and ethics as it experiments with new tools that will assist its journalists in their work.
This is the new policy in full:
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
As Newsweek evaluates AI-based tools that might help reporters, video editors, copy editors, assignment editors and others do their jobs more effectively, we will roll them out to the newsroom. Sometimes these tools will be deployed to small teams as experiments. These experiments will always be bound by the rules in this policy.
Newsweek believes that AI tools can help journalists work faster, smarter and more creatively. Sometimes, a tool will take away the more burdensome tasks of day-to-day journalism. In other cases, AI may put a project that was too time-consuming or expensive to pursue within our newsroom's grasp. We firmly believe that soon all journalists will be working with AI in some form and we want our newsroom to embrace these technologies as quickly as is possible in an ethical way.
AI is not accountable to Newsweek readers: we are. The burden of ensuring that all stories or other content meets Newsweek standards rests with our writers, editors and producers, always.
To that end, we will always comply with the following rules when working with AI:
IMAGES
Newsweek will not publish AI generated images - either video or still pictures - that appear lifelike.
WRITTEN CONTENT - CORE FUNCTIONS
If a piece of written content involves the use of AI tools in writing, research, editing or other core journalism functions, there will always be three or more journalists involved in producing the story—an assigning editor, a reporter and a publishing editor.
WRITTEN CONTENT - SUPPORTING FUNCTIONS
The rules requiring the involvement of three journalists does not apply when AI tools are simply used to support a journalist's work such as for note taking, transcription and video script writing, writing social copy, A/B testing headlines, adding metadata or selecting images. However, the journalist using such tools will be responsible for ensuring they do not give rise to errors.
DISCLOSURE
Any journalist using any AI tool on a core journalism function must disclose that to their editor and the publishing desk. Any tool not previously used by Newsweek must be approved by the Standards Editor.
About Newsweek
Newsweek is the global digital news organization built around the iconic, 90-year-old American magazine. Newsweek reaches 100 million people each month with its thought-provoking news, opinion, images, graphics and video delivered across a dozen print and digital platforms. Headquartered in New York City, Newsweek also publishes international editions in EMEA and Asia.
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Ben Billingsley for Newsweek
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