TL;DR:
- The News/Media Alliance released new AI Principles to guide the use of generative artificial intelligence systems with regard to journalistic and creative content.
- The Alliance represents over 2,000 print and digital news and magazine media companies, which invest in producing high-quality content that contributes to the economy and informs communities.
- The AI Principles emphasize the importance of respecting publishers’ intellectual property, brands, reader relationships, and investments in content creation.
- The Principles outline the need for GAI developers to negotiate fair compensation and secure explicit permission for the use of publishers’ content in AI systems.
- The Alliance is advocating for the passage of the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act (JCPA) to allow publishers to collectively negotiate fair compensation from tech platforms for the use of their content.
- The JCPA aims to address the current challenges faced by publishers due to the domination of tech platforms in the digital ad revenue market.
Main AI News:
The News/Media Alliance, a leading advocacy group representing over 2,000 print and digital news and magazine media companies, has unveiled a set of AI Principles aimed at guiding the use of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) systems with regard to journalistic and creative content. These Principles address key issues related to intellectual property, transparency, accountability, fairness, safety, and design and are applicable to all forms of content, including text, images, audio-visual, and others.
The News/Media Alliance’s member companies, ranging from local outlets to international publications, invest daily in producing high-quality, trustworthy, and reliable content that is both engaging and informative. These publishers make significant contributions to the economy and play a critical role in educating and informing communities and strengthening democracy and economic growth.
According to Danielle Coffey, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the News/Media Alliance, “The Principles emphasize the importance of emerging technologies such as AI to continue respecting publishers’ intellectual property, brands, reader relationships, and investments in creating quality content. Publishers must receive fair compensation for the value their content brings to the development of GAI systems – it’s a matter of exchanging value.”
The News/Media Alliance’s AI Principles outline the need for GAI developers to secure explicit permission and negotiate fair compensation with publishers for the use of their content in the training, surfacing, and synthesizing of AI systems. This includes the inclusion of publishers’ content in datasets, the serving of content in response to user inputs, and the creation of summaries, explanations, and analyses of source content.
In support of these principles, the Alliance is advocating for the passage of the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act (JCPA), which would give publishers the ability to collectively negotiate fair compensation from the dominant tech platforms for the use of their content, including for AI purposes. As tech platforms currently capture the majority of U.S. digital ad revenue, publishers are left with limited resources to invest in the production of high-quality journalism.
Danielle Coffey, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the News/Media Alliance stated, “The tech platforms cannot be relied upon to regulate themselves and are instead engaging in increasingly anticompetitive behavior, damaging local journalism. It is crucial that we ensure the rightful return of value to the creators of quality journalism, which will, in turn, be reinvested in providing the information that our country requires to stay informed.” The JCPA, which received strong bipartisan support in 2022 and was reintroduced in the Senate in March 2023, has the potential to mitigate these challenges and secure a brighter future for quality journalism.
Conlcusion:
The release of the AI Principles by the News/Media Alliance highlights the importance of respecting the intellectual property, brands, and investments of publishers in creating quality content. The Alliance is calling for GAI developers to secure explicit permission and negotiate fair compensation with publishers for the use of their content in AI systems.
The advocacy group is also pushing for the passage of the Journalism Competition & Preservation Act (JCPA), which would give publishers the ability to collectively negotiate fair compensation from tech platforms for the use of their content. The JCPA aims to address the challenges faced by publishers due to the dominance of tech platforms in the digital ad revenue market and ensure the return of value to the creators of quality journalism. The passage of the JCPA could potentially secure a brighter future for quality journalism and mitigate the negative impact of tech platforms on the industry.
