Google working on ‘Genesis’ AI tool for journalists that writes news

Abner Li | Jul 19 2023 - 9:41 pm PT

Besides building AI products for personal, productivity, and developer use cases, journalism and news is another area for Google with details of a “Genesis” tool.

According to the New York Times, Google is working on an AI tool, codenamed Genesis, that can ingest “details of current events” and other information to “generate news copy.”

Google has pitched this tool to the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post as a “personal assistant for journalists” that allows them to focus on other tasks.

Some executives who saw Google’s pitch described it as unsettling, asking not to be identified discussing a confidential matter. Two people said it seemed to take for granted the effort that went into producing accurate and artful news stories.

It’s unclear which part of the company is behind Genesis. Google already has “Help me write” in Gmail and Google Docs, with similar capabilities offered by Bard and a more contextual version in Messages with Magic Compose.

It’s not hard to imagine an LLM trained specifically on a news organization’s archive to get down the writing style. Last week, OpenAI partnered with the Associated Press to get that access and “examine potential use cases for generative AI in news products and services.”

Meanwhile, companies like Google licensing content from publications for AI training seems likely and something that those organizations are calling for. It could be an extension of existing licensing partnerships.

Google issued the following statement:

In partnership with news publishers, especially smaller publishers, we’re in the earliest stages of exploring ideas to potentially provide AI-enabled tools to help journalists with their work.

For instance, AI-enabled tools could assist journalists with options for headlines or different writing styles. Our goal is to give journalists the choice of using these emerging technologies in a way that enhances their work and productivity, just like we’re making assistive tools available for people in Gmail and in Google Docs.

Quite simply these tools are not intended to, and cannot, replace the essential role journalists have in reporting, creating, and fact-checking their articles.