In January, 404 Media published an article claiming that Google News promotes AI-generated and repurposed news stories over original human-reported news stories.
In this article, reporter Joseph Cox reviewed multiple examples of AI “rip-offs.” He said Google News' rankings are “an opaque but clearly gameable system” and that Google “may not be ready to manage news services in the age of consumer-accessible AI.” ' he claimed.
We know AI is changing the way journalists gather and report news, but is Google making it harder for human reporting to reach readers? What do we know? Here's how journalists can adapt.
Google responds
A Google representative, who requested anonymity, disputed that the company's algorithms prioritize AI-generated news. “Claims that our ranking system was 'boosting' content are misleading,” the representative said. “Our ranking system did not show this content higher in results by default.”
The default relevance ranking system was intentionally overridden for 404 Media's articles, the representative continued. “The content you see at the top of a search sorted by date is not the same as what you see in a regular query using the default relevance ranking.”
When ranking search results by date, “the most recent content that matches the conditions will be displayed, but the results may change rapidly as new content appears,'' said a person in charge. The reason Google search is likely to deliver AI-generated news before human-generated news is all about speed. NewsGuard Tech found that the AI news plagiarism site World-Today-News.com generates an average of 1,200 articles per day. By comparison, The New York Times publishes about 150 original articles every day.
Human reporters cannot keep up with such fluctuations, which can affect the type of content returned in search results. Google said that in the case Cox cited, the search function was filtered by date, so the AI-generated results appeared first, indirectly highlighting how rapidly AI news is growing. ing.
Regardless of whether Google Search promotes AI-generated news over humans, AI content farms (online operations that produce low-quality clickbait aimed at generating huge ad revenues) are We create content and programmatic advertising that appears before. It's stirring up enthusiasm. The new AI-powered news site has a more sophisticated look and feel than its content farm cousins, but the goal is the same. Instead of directing readers to the news, you are directing them to ads. These sites often rewrite or simply plagiarize news from legitimate sites. On the other hand, some AI tools have been found to “hallucinate” information, often allowing fake content to spread faster and further across the internet than the truth.
“[We take] We take the quality of our results very seriously and have clear policies against content created with the primary purpose of ranking highly in news, and we remove sites that violate these policies.” said a Google representative. In July 2023, Google released a document explaining that its ranking system rewards stories with multiple factors, including content relevance, prominence, and authority. This ranking system applies to all documents, regardless of how they are created.
Google may be working to reduce the likelihood that results produced by AI content farms rank higher in search, but hundreds of these farms plagiarized human-sourced reports. They continue to push articles and articles that contain misleading or false information. A recent report by NewsGuard Tech identified more than 800 such sites where “news” is produced “with little or no human oversight.”
Recognize the new normal
Some observers, such as Sonny Kassam, a former Bloomberg reporter and current chief content officer at 1440 Newsletter, say Google and other search engine companies are trying to distinguish between AI-generated content in their results. I believe that. However, Google's own creations may make that task even more difficult.
Consider Gemini, Google's powerful AI model. Gemini can understand text, code, and images, but according to Kassam, responding to search queries with its own original content “significantly interferes with a journalist's ability to get in front of an audience through Google Search.” “I will do so.” Rather than pulling from news articles, Gemini may simply refer to popular resources from elsewhere on the Internet to answer their questions. “So unless we can hack the algorithms, some stories may get buried,” Kassam said.
Cybersecurity and privacy law expert Star Kashman agrees that AI has the potential to transform journalists' jobs, from identifying sources to fact-checking and editing. “Journalists may be part of the ever-evolving datasets that AI relies on, so they themselves can be plagiarized or have their copyrights violated,” Kashman said. In fact, Microsoft and he currently have multiple lawsuits pending against OpenAI alleging copyright infringement. My father, Nicholas Basbens, is one of the plaintiffs.
News aggregators, especially AI-powered news aggregators like Techpresso and Morning Brew, will become more popular. At the same time, the number of working journalists continues to decline. More than 21,000 jobs will be lost in 2023, and 2024 has been a tough year for journalists so far. More than 500 people were laid off in January alone, and layoffs have continued since then.
The journalists who remain will play an even more important role in creating and sustaining a robust narrative in news organizations and social media platforms. Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, and X serve as modern city squares. Reporters who embrace the platform’s algorithms will survive and publish more stories.
Advantages and limitations of AI
For Niagara University professor Dr. Sean P. Daly, the transition to AI in newsrooms is inevitable, but not entirely apocalyptic. This technology offers benefits to journalists who wish to use it.
Reporters and other content creators are already using AI in increasingly sophisticated ways, from determining how many free articles readers can access before hitting a paywall to proofreading articles.
But these changes especially impact small, independent news organizations. “Truly original work” such as in-depth investigative reporting has become nearly impossible for smaller news organizations to produce, and is instead left to remaining industry giants like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Daly warned that the
“Investigative journalism is about both reconstructing existing (public) facts and uncovering new (hidden) data. Under human guidance, AI analyzes available information. By recombining them into new stories, we can develop novel explanations, theories, and rationalizations,” he said.
Even today, only humans, not AI, can conduct interviews and conduct deep investigations.
AI and adaptation to Google News search
If you can't beat the AI, embrace it. However, although there are limitations, I recommend Kassam and Kassman. “Innovations in journalism will force journalists to leverage AI.” [for] We will strengthen our reporting, engage in storytelling and data analysis, and remain relevant and authoritative within the field,” Cushman said.
Reporters should expect AI to become part of the reporting process, Kassam advised. “It is critical for both journalists and news organizations as a whole to think critically about how they own and manage their distribution channels and connect directly with their audiences,” he said. “This means publishing robust newsletters that go straight to your audience's inboxes and reaching your audience where they are, rather than relying solely or in large part on external algorithms for exposure. That could mean developing a strong social strategy for meeting others.
Kassam's free newsletter 1440 boasts 3.4 million subscribers, reinforcing the idea that people want fairly reported news and are drawn to news outlets that provide it. As part of our article on news bias, Snopes was ranked 1440th, right in the middle of the political pendulum.
If Google recognizes its focus on high-quality content in search rankings, regardless of its origin, journalists need to stick to proven strategies, such as demonstrating deep knowledge and credibility. . “Make sure your work is original and shows real expertise. Sharing clear information about who wrote the article and how it was created builds trust. ” says Ilyasekurov, his SEO and marketing manager at Mailbutler.
Here are some tips for navigating a new newsroom provided by experts interviewed for this article.
- Use AI with integrity, not just as a way to rank higher in search results. Google's ability to find and rank well-written AI content improves with each iteration.
- We focus on creating content that emphasizes depth, context, and nuance.
- Engage directly with your community, embrace multimedia, and employ SEO best practices to increase the visibility and impact of your work.
- Spread your content across platforms and don't rely solely on information spread on search engines.
- Incorporate AI to automate routine tasks, analyze data, and uncover patterns.
By intelligently leveraging AI, reporters can enrich their reporting and ensure that their products are undeniably human.
Photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash.
