Civil Municipal Magazine Aug 2023

14 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 8 directly to “approximately 10” of its current grantees to help them develop tools on their own. Additionally, OpenAI is giving AJP “up to $5 million in API credits” so it and its grantees can experiment with the technology themselves. “We proudly support the American Journalism Project’s mission to strengthen our democracy by rebuilding the country’s local news sector. This collaboration underscores our mission and belief that AI should benefit everyone and be used as a tool to enhance work,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in the announcement. Last week, OpenAI struck a two-year deal with the Associated Press to license some of its journalism to train its algorithms. The AP is the first news organization to partner with the company. The financial terms of the deal aren’t public. Some local news organizations are already experimenting with AI on their own. It can cover public meetings, streamline newsletter generation, and help out in comments sections, for instance. But ChatGPT often can’t distinguish between true and false information, leading to fears of misinformation at scale. The FTC is currently investigating OpenAI over ChatGPT’s potential harms. And with companies like BuzzFeed, CNET, and G/O Media already generating articles with the technology, there are fears that it will take over reporters’ jobs. “We think it’s essential that generative AI is used as a tool for journalists, not as a replacement,” Sarabeth Berman, CEO of AJP, said in an email. “This partnership is intended to explore if generative AI can improve workflows so that editorial staff can spend more time on hard- hitting reporting (including providing verified facts and information) and the stories that matter most to the communities they serve. It is crucial to explore the ways in which AI could potentially support local organizations’ efforts to be sustainable and enable them to produce more of the work critical to their audiences.” Last week, OpenAI struck a two-year deal with the Associated Press to license some of its journalism to train its algorithms. The AP is the first news organization to partner with the company. The financial terms of the deal aren’t public.