The New York state legislature recently introduced a bill that would make it more apparent when companies and journalists use artificial intelligence to create news content.
With the goal of preserving journalistic integrity and preventing the spread of misinformation, the New York Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Requirements in News Act would require disclaimers on news articles, videos and images generated using a substantial amount of AI. The act also aims to protect confidential information from being used by AI systems.
The NY FAIR News Act is a step in the right direction to ensure readers understand how content is produced and better assess its credibility at a time when AI is used to manipulate facts regarding real news events.
In journalism, AI should play little to no role in everyday newswriting and should be reduced to an assistive tool, rather than something trusted to produce an entire article.
“This legislation is vital to safeguard the public’s right to know what is being done in their name and is necessary to protect and expand the public’s trust, built by media workers across the country and in our union, in human-powered journalism,” Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of New York, said in a statement.
Concerns about AI-generated news include the potential to insert misleading content and to plagiarize original sources. Overreliance on AI-generated content also undermines the efforts of newsroom professionals, including journalists, videographers, photographers and graphic artists.
These new regulations preserve the human-centered job that journalists hold, which AI could never replicate.
The bill would mandate journalists to be clear when they use AI for a piece, which the bill defines as content that is “substantially composed, authored, or created through the use of generative artificial intelligence.” Whether it is an article, photo or video, it must be thoroughly reviewed by a human before publication.
The bill would require employers to disclose to their employees why and how AI tools are used in the newsroom. Media workers would have the right to refuse to have their work processed through an AI system.
The bill further states that a newsroom’s use of AI must not result in employees losing their jobs, having their hours or pay reduced or experiencing cuts to workplace benefits.
Safeguards like this show how AI can assist journalists with their work, rather than replace their jobs.
The work journalists do — whether conducting interviews, photographing protests or producing documentaries — relies solely on human skills. Without these elements, the storytelling journalists provide would fail to capture the reality of events.
Journalists and readers should approach AI use in the media with caution. It is all too easy for information to be manipulated and for misinformation to spread rapidly.
