Google has announced a groundbreaking partnership with The Associated Press (AP), where its artificial intelligence chatbot, Gemini, will provide real-time news updates. This marks the first agreement of its kind between Google and a news organization. The tech giant revealed the collaboration in a blog entry, highlighting that AP will supply a continuous feed of current information, aimed at enhancing the relevance and utility of the results shown in the Gemini app.
Kristin Heitmann, AP’s chief revenue officer, emphasized that this agreement is a continuation of their long-term relationship with Google, focused on collaborating to offer timely and accurate news to audiences worldwide. Heitmann expressed satisfaction that Google acknowledges the importance of AP’s journalism and its commitment to impartial reporting as it develops its generative AI solutions.
Financial details surrounding the deal have not been disclosed, and Google has refrained from commenting on how it plans to display AP’s news content or whether it will provide credit to the news agency or link back to the original articles. Gemini, previously known as Bard, is Google’s response to the rise in demand for AI-based tools capable of creating documents, generating images, assisting with programming, and executing various other tasks.
In recent years, the AP has worked to broaden its income sources and in 2023 engaged in an arrangement with OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT. This deal permits OpenAI to license AP’s vast archive of news material, which can be utilized to train future iterations of its AI systems. As with the Google agreement, the financial specifics of this partnership were not made public, but it has led to a growing number of alliances between OpenAI and news organizations internationally.
Concerns have arisen among media organizations regarding AI companies potentially using their content without authorization or compensation, ultimately resulting in unfair competition for advertising revenue derived from search engine usage or clicks on news sites. Several news outlets, including The New York Times, have filed lawsuits against OpenAI and other AI firms for copyright violations, laying out their case before a federal judge in New York.
Tech firms argue that utilizing publicly accessible text from the internet to train AI models falls under “fair use” as defined by U.S. copyright laws. However, as they confront legal challenges and grapple with issues stemming from inaccuracies in AI outputs—often referred to as hallucinations—AI companies have begun seeking licenses for high-quality data sources to boost their product’s efficacy.
There are disadvantages for publishers in an environment where tech companies incorporate AI-generated summaries into their online offerings. Nonetheless, these partnerships can provide essential revenue streams for news outlets and enhance the quality of information available online. Alex Mahadevan, director of The Poynter Institute’s Mediawise, highlighted that publishers face a tough choice: take part in these deals, accepting what they can obtain for their extensive work, or contest the situation defensively in courts like The New York Times is attempting to do.
The AP prides itself on delivering unbiased news and provides a range of content including stories, photographs, videos, and audio via its platform, APNews.com. However, much of its revenue is derived from selling news content to various organizations. The agency has recently witnessed a significant decline in revenue from traditional newspaper clients, losing partnerships with large publications such as Gannett and McClatchy last year. While the AP has also pursued philanthropic funding, the overall decline in the news industry continues to affect its financial health.
