February updates in AI and journalism: Continuing legal tensions, newsroom experiments and emerging collaboration
From lawsuits that may define AI’s limits to new partnerships sparking innovation, here’s a look at the month’s notable developments that are reshaping the intersection of AI and journalism.
Continuing Legal Tensions
The year opened with the news that The New York Times is taking OpenAI to court. According to the complaint filed by the Times, OpenAI could be on the hook for billions of dollars in damages over illegally copying and using the newspaper’s archive. The lawsuit also calls for the destruction of ChatGPT’s dataset. NPR’s Bobby Allyn says the lawsuit could set a crucial precedent on whether large language models can freely train on copyrighted text.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg columnists offered varied perspectives on “How journalism will adapt in the age of AI,” pointing to potential regulation and accountability. John Micklethwait described how an algorithm trained on satellite imagery uncovered 2,006 suspicious ship-to-ship oil transfers between Jan. 2020 and Oct. 4, 2024 — a volume too large for reporters to monitor manually.
Journalists and developers say the industry must define editorial oversight guidelines before AI-generated content becomes routine. Reuters’ Katharina Schell reviewed 13 editorial AI guidelines and found that most call for “transparency” but lack any guidance on what that means in practice. “Trust in journalism is assumed to hinge on disclosure,” Schell wrote, “but we lack any evidence that transparency alone bolsters trust.”
Overseas, an Al Jazeera conference on AI in media brought international stakeholders together to discuss ethical guidelines, data management and cultural impacts.
Newsroom Experiments in AI
Apple removed error-prone AI-generated briefs from its upcoming beta iPhone software. This call to action was announced after the BBC and users flagged inaccuracies. Elsewhere, union leader Matt Pearce of the Media Guild of the West, questioned the reliability of machine-generated content in crisis reporting in his Substack article, “Did you use AI during the L.A. wildfires?”
Time introduced an AI chatbot to field reader questions, calling it “a pivotal step toward charting the future of journalism.” SpotlightPA, among other nonprofit newsrooms, reflected on “A Year of AI Experimentation,” debating whether automation improves reporting or merely shifts workloads.
Emerging Partnerships Between Newsrooms and Tech Companies
Nieman Lab reported that OpenAI agreed to fund four Axios local newsrooms as part of a broader partnership focused on “juicing local news,” according to Axios CEO Jim VandeHei. In exchange for an unspecified but “significant” figure, according to VandeHei, OpenAI will have access to Axios journalism to answer user queries on ChatGPT with attributed summaries, quotes, and links to Axios stories.
Similarly, Google joined forces with The Associated Press to deliver a feed of real-time information to help enhance the usefulness of results displayed in Google’s Gemini app.
Looking Ahead
Futurists predict changes in content personalization and market disruptions, bringing us to the most important question – “What do the gods of generative AI have in store for 2025?” According to The Economist, AI agents, by 2025, will efficiently manage data and tasks, fostering trust and reducing costs, thanks to advanced models and computing resources. Meanwhile, a Reuters institute Q&A with AI expert Karen Hao highlights DeepSeek, a model designed to reduce AI’s environmental toll. Critics say it still faces the industry’s core problems — data privacy, provenance and copyright. Hao argues DeepSeek’s success may counter U.S. fears of falling behind China if stricter data regulations are enforced, but she notes greener AI alone will not resolve broader transparency and user-consent concerns.
News media trends for 2025 echoed concerns like AI threats, the decline in Google search and subscriptions slowdown. Publishers must remain adaptable as technology evolves.
Wherever AI leads, human oversight, ethics, policies and ongoing dialogue will shape how newsrooms embrace innovation. As automation becomes further woven into editorial workflows, news outlets face a critical choice: adapt and self-regulate or risk losing trust in an increasingly AI-driven landscape.
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