Tag Archives: Journalism & News

Building a better web for everyone

The vast majority of online content creators fund their work with advertising. That means they want the ads that run on their sites to be compelling, useful and engaging--ones that people actually want to see and interact with. But the reality is, it’s far too common that people encounter annoying, intrusive ads on the web--like the kind that blare music unexpectedly, or force you to wait 10 seconds before you can see the content on the page. These frustrating experiences can lead some people to block all ads--taking a big toll on the content creators, journalists, web developers and videographers who depend on ads to fund their content creation.

We believe online ads should be better. That’s why we joined the Coalition for Better Ads, an industry group dedicated to improving online ads. The group’s recently announced Better Ads Standards provide clear, public, data-driven guidance for how the industry can improve ads for consumers, and today I’d like to share how we plan to support it.

New tools for publishers

The new Ad Experience Report helps publishers understand how the Better Ads Standards apply to their own websites. It provides screenshots and videos of annoying ad experiences we’ve identified to make it easy to find and fix the issues. For a full list of ads to use instead, publishers can visit our new best practices guide.

video_fast_500x343_v03.gif
Screen Shot 2017-06-01 at 7.39.13 PM.png

As part of our efforts to maintain a sustainable web for everyone, we want to help publishers with good ad experiences get paid for their work. With Funding Choices, now in beta, publishers can show a customized message to visitors using an ad blocker, inviting them to either enable ads on their site, or pay for a pass that removes all ads on that site through the new Google Contributor.

Screen Shot 2017-06-02 at 9.51.14 AM.png

Funding Choices is available to publishers in North America, U.K., Germany, Australia and New Zealand and will be rolling out in other countries later this year. Publishers should visit our new best practices guide for tips on crafting the right message for their audience.

Chrome support for the Better Ads Standards

Chrome has always focused on giving you the best possible experience browsing the web. For example, it prevents pop-ups in new tabs based on the fact that they are annoying. In dialogue with the Coalition and other industry groups, we plan to have Chrome stop showing ads (including those owned or served by Google) on websites that are not compliant with the Better Ads Standards starting in early 2018.

Looking ahead

We believe these changes will ensure all content creators, big and small, can continue to have a sustainable way to fund their work with online advertising.

We look forward to working with the Coalition as they develop marketplace guidelines for supporting the Better Ads Standards, and are committed to working closely with the entire industry—including groups like the IAB, IAB Europe, the DCN, the WFA, the ANA and the 4A’s, advertisers, agencies and publishers—to roll out these changes in a way that makes sense for users and the broader ads ecosystem.

Building a better web for everyone

The vast majority of online content creators fund their work with advertising. That means they want the ads that run on their sites to be compelling, useful and engaging—ones that people actually want to see and interact with. But the reality is, it’s far too common that people encounter annoying, intrusive ads on the web—like the kind that blare music unexpectedly, or force you to wait 10 seconds before you can see the content on the page. These frustrating experiences can lead some people to block all ads—taking a big toll on the content creators, journalists, web developers and videographers who depend on ads to fund their content creation.

We believe online ads should be better. That’s why we joined the Coalition for Better Ads, an industry group dedicated to improving online ads. The group’s recently announced Better Ads Standards provide clear, public, data-driven guidance for how the industry can improve ads for consumers, and today I’d like to share how we plan to support it.

New tools for publishers

The new Ad Experience Report helps publishers understand how the Better Ads Standards apply to their own websites. It provides screenshots and videos of annoying ad experiences we’ve identified to make it easy to find and fix the issues. For a full list of ads to use instead, publishers can visit our new best practices guide.

Screen Shot 2017-06-01 at 7.39.13 PM.png

As part of our efforts to maintain a sustainable web for everyone, we want to help publishers with good ad experiences get paid for their work. With Funding Choices, now in beta, publishers can show a customized message to visitors using an ad blocker, inviting them to either enable ads on their site, or pay for a pass that removes all ads on that site through the new Google Contributor.

Screen Shot 2017-06-02 at 9.51.14 AM.png

Funding Choices is available to publishers in North America, U.K., Germany, Australia and New Zealand and will be rolling out in other countries later this year. Publishers should visit our new best practices guide for tips on crafting the right message for their audience.

Chrome support for the Better Ads Standards

Chrome has always focused on giving you the best possible experience browsing the web. For example, it prevents pop-ups in new tabs based on the fact that they are annoying. In dialogue with the Coalition and other industry groups, we plan to have Chrome stop showing ads (including those owned or served by Google) on websites that are not compliant with the Better Ads Standards starting in early 2018.

Looking ahead

We believe these changes will ensure all content creators, big and small, can continue to have a sustainable way to fund their work with online advertising.

We look forward to working with the Coalition as they develop marketplace guidelines for supporting the Better Ads Standards, and are committed to working closely with the entire industry—including groups like the IAB, IAB Europe, the DCN, the WFA, the ANA and the 4A’s, advertisers, agencies and publishers—to roll out these changes in a way that makes sense for users and the broader ads ecosystem.

Make your own data gifs with our new too

Data visualizations are an essential storytelling tool in journalism, and though they are often intricate, they don’t have to be complex. In fact, with the growth of mobile devices as a primary method of consuming news, data visualizations can be simple images formatted for the device they appear on.

Enter data gifs.

trends_BatmanSuperman.gif

These animations can be used for a variety of sophisticated storytelling approaches among data journalists: one example is Lena Groeger, who has become *the* expert in working with data gifs.

Today we are releasing Data Gif Maker, a tool to help journalists make these visuals, which show share of search interest for two competing topics.

trends_PBJ.gif

Data Gif Maker works like this:

1. Enter two data points

Trend_Step4.png

We typically use the tool to represent competing search interest, but it can show whatever you want it to—polling numbers, sales figures, movie ratings, etc. If you want to show search interest, you can compare two terms in the Google Trends explore tool, which will give you an average number (of search interest over time) for each term. Then input those two numbers in Data Gif Maker.

2. Add your text

Trend_Step3.png

3. Choose your colors

Trend_Step2.png

4. Choose your explanatory text

Trend_Step1.png

5. Hit “Launch Comparisons” and “Download as Gif”

Trend_Step5.png

And there you go—you’ve made your first animated data gif. Pro-tip #1: the high resolution download takes longer but it’s better quality for social sharing. Pro-tip #2: Leave the window open on your desktop while it’s creating the gifs as it will do so quicker.

If you want the visual, but not the gif, hit “Launch Comparisons” and it will open in your browser window. Just hit space to advance through the views (it’s set up to show five pieces of data, one after the other).

Find the tool useful? We’d love to see what you do with it. Email us at [email protected].

Make your own data gifs with our new tool

Data visualizations are an essential storytelling tool in journalism, and though they are often intricate, they don’t have to be complex. In fact, with the growth of mobile devices as a primary method of consuming news, data visualizations can be simple images formatted for the device they appear on.

Enter data gifs.

trends_BatmanSuperman.gif

These animations can be used for a variety of sophisticated storytelling approaches among data journalists: one example is Lena Groeger, who has become *the* expert in working with data gifs.

Today we are releasing Data Gif Maker, a tool to help journalists make these visuals, which show share of search interest for two competing topics.

trends_PBJ.gif

Data Gif Maker works like this:

1. Enter two data points

Trend_Step4.png

We typically use the tool to represent competing search interest, but it can show whatever you want it to—polling numbers, sales figures, movie ratings, etc. If you want to show search interest, you can compare two terms in the Google Trends explore tool, which will give you an average number (of search interest over time) for each term. Then input those two numbers in Data Gif Maker.

2. Add your text

Trend_Step3.png

3. Choose your colors

Trend_Step2.png

4. Choose your explanatory text

Trend_Step1.png

5. Hit “Launch Comparisons” and “Download as Gif”

Trend_Step5.png

And there you go—you’ve made your first animated data gif. Pro-tip #1: the high resolution download takes longer but it’s better quality for social sharing. Pro-tip #2: Leave the window open on your desktop while it’s creating the gifs as it will do so quicker.

If you want the visual, but not the gif, hit “Launch Comparisons” and it will open in your browser window. Just hit space to advance through the views (it’s set up to show five pieces of data, one after the other).

Find the tool useful? We’d love to see what you do with it. Email us at [email protected].

Make your own data gifs with our new tool

Data visualizations are an essential storytelling tool in journalism, and though they are often intricate, they don’t have to be complex. In fact, with the growth of mobile devices as a primary method of consuming news, data visualizations can be simple images formatted for the device they appear on.

Enter data gifs.

trends_BatmanSuperman.gif

These animations can be used for a variety of sophisticated storytelling approaches among data journalists: one example is Lena Groeger, who has become *the* expert in working with data gifs.

Today we are releasing Data Gif Maker, a tool to help journalists make these visuals, which show share of search interest for two competing topics.

trends_PBJ.gif

Data Gif Maker works like this:

1. Enter two data points

Trend_Step4.png

We typically use the tool to represent competing search interest, but it can show whatever you want it to—polling numbers, sales figures, movie ratings, etc. If you want to show search interest, you can compare two terms in the Google Trends explore tool, which will give you an average number (of search interest over time) for each term. Then input those two numbers in Data Gif Maker.

2. Add your text

Trend_Step3.png

3. Choose your colors

Trend_Step2.png

4. Choose your explanatory text

Trend_Step1.png

5. Hit “Launch Comparisons” and “Download as Gif”

Trend_Step5.png

And there you go—you’ve made your first animated data gif. Pro-tip #1: the high resolution download takes longer but it’s better quality for social sharing. Pro-tip #2: Leave the window open on your desktop while it’s creating the gifs as it will do so quicker.

If you want the visual, but not the gif, hit “Launch Comparisons” and it will open in your browser window. Just hit space to advance through the views (it’s set up to show five pieces of data, one after the other).

Find the tool useful? We’d love to see what you do with it. Email us at [email protected].

Make your own data gifs with our new tool

Data visualizations are an essential storytelling tool in journalism, and though they are often intricate, they don’t have to be complex. In fact, with the growth of mobile devices as a primary method of consuming news, data visualizations can be simple images formatted for the device they appear on.

Enter data gifs.

trends_BatmanSuperman.gif

These animations can be used for a variety of sophisticated storytelling approaches among data journalists: one example is Lena Groeger, who has become *the* expert in working with data gifs.

Today we are releasing Data Gif Maker, a tool to help journalists make these visuals, which show share of search interest for two competing topics.

trends_PBJ.gif

Data Gif Maker works like this:

1. Enter two data points

Trend_Step4.png

We typically use the tool to represent competing search interest, but it can show whatever you want it to—polling numbers, sales figures, movie ratings, etc. If you want to show search interest, you can compare two terms in the Google Trends explore tool, which will give you an average number (of search interest over time) for each term. Then input those two numbers in Data Gif Maker.

2. Add your text

Trend_Step3.png

3. Choose your colors

Trend_Step2.png

4. Choose your explanatory text

Trend_Step1.png

5. Hit “Launch Comparisons” and “Download as Gif”

And there you go—you’ve made your first animated data gif. Pro-tip #1: the high resolution download takes longer but it’s better quality for social sharing. Pro-tip #2: Leave the window open on your desktop while it’s creating the gifs as it will do so quicker.

If you want the visual, but not the gif, hit “Launch Comparisons” and it will open in your browser window. Just hit space to advance through the views (it’s set up to show five pieces of data, one after the other).

Find the tool useful? We’d love to see what you do with it. Email us at [email protected].

AI in the newsroom: What’s happening and what’s next?

Bringing people together to discuss the forces shaping journalism is central to our mission at the Google News Lab. Earlier this month, we invited Nick Rockwell, the Chief Technology Officer from the New York Times, and Luca D’Aniello, the Chief Technology Officer at the Associated Press, to Google’s New York office to talk about the future of artificial intelligence in journalism and the challenges and opportunities it presents for newsrooms.

The event opened with an overview of the AP's recent report, "The Future of Augmented Journalism: a guide for newsrooms in the age of smart machines,” which was based on interviews with dozens of journalists, technologists, and academics (and compiled with the help of a robot, of course). As early adopters of this technology, the AP highlighted a number of their earlier experiments:

Boxing match image captured by one of AP’s AI-powered cameras
This image of a boxing match was captured by one of AP’s AI-powered cameras.
  • Deploying more than a dozen AI-powered robotic cameras at the 2016 Summer Olympics to capture angles not easily available to journalists
  • Using Google’s Cloud Vision API to classify and tag photos automatically throughout the report
  • Increasing news coverage of quarterly earnings reports from 400 to 4,000 companies using automation

The report also addressed key concerns, including risks associated with unchecked algorithms, potential for workflow disruption, and the growing gap in skill sets.

Here are three themes that emerged from the conversation with Rockwell and D’Aniello:

1. AI will increase a news organization's ability to focus on content creation

D’Aniello noted that journalists, often “pressed for resources,” are forced to “spend most of their time creating multiple versions of the same content for different outlets.” AI can reduce monotonous tasks like these and allow journalists to to spend more of their time on their core expertise: reporting.

For Rockwell, AI could also be leveraged to power new reporting, helping journalists analyze massive data sets to surface untold stories. Rockwell noted that “the big stories will be found in data, and whether we can find them or not will depend on our sophistication using large datasets.”

2. AI can help improve the quality of dialogue online and help organizations better understand their readers' needs.

Given the increasing abuse and harassment found in online conversations, many publishers are backing away from allowing comments on articles. For the Times, the Perspective API tool developed by Jigsaw (part of Google’s parent company Alphabet), is creating an opportunity to encourage constructive discussions online by using machine learning to increase the efficiency of comment moderation. Previously, the Times could only moderate comments on 10 percent of articles. Now, the technology has allowed them to allow commenting on all articles.

The Times is also thinking about using AI to increase the relevance of what they deliver to readers. As Rockwell notes, “Our readers have always looked to us to filter the world, but to do that only through editorial curation is a one-size-fits-all approach. There is a lot we can do to better serve them.”

3. Applying journalistic standards is essential to AI’s successful implementation in newsrooms

Both panelists agreed that the editorial standards that go into creating quality journalism should be applied to AI-fueled journalism. As Francesco Marconi, the author of the AP report, remarked, “Humans make mistakes. Algorithms make mistakes. All the editorial standards should be applied to the technology.”

Here are a few approaches we’ve seen for how those standards can be applied to the technology:

  • Pairing up journalists with the tech. At the AP, business journalists trained software to understand how to write an earnings report.
  • Serving as editorial gatekeepers. News editors should play a role in synthesizing and framing the information AI produces.
  • Ensuring more inclusive reporting. In 2016, Google.org, USC and the Geena Davis Foundation used machine learning to create a tool that collects data on gender portrayals in media.

What’s ahead

What will it take for AI to be a positive force in journalism? The conversation showed that while the path wasn’t certain, getting to the right answers would require close collaboration between the technology industry, news organizations, and journalists.

“There is a lot of work to do, but it’s about the mindset,” D’Aniello said. “Technology was seen as a disruptor of the newsroom, and it was difficult to introduce things. I don’t think this is the case anymore. The urgency and the need is perceived at the editorial level.”

We look forward to continuing to host more conversations on important topics like this one. Learn more about the Google News Lab on our website.

Header image of robotic camera courtesy of Associated Press.

Source: Google Cloud


AI in the newsroom: What’s happening and what’s next?

Bringing people together to discuss the forces shaping journalism is central to our mission at the Google News Lab. Earlier this month, we invited Nick Rockwell, the Chief Technology Officer from the New York Times, and Luca D’Aniello, the Chief Technology Officer at the Associated Press, to Google’s New York office to talk about the future of artificial intelligence in journalism and the challenges and opportunities it presents for newsrooms.

The event opened with an overview of the AP's recent report, "The Future of Augmented Journalism: a guide for newsrooms in the age of smart machines,” which was based on interviews with dozens of journalists, technologists, and academics (and compiled with the help of a robot, of course). As early adopters of this technology, the AP highlighted a number of their earlier experiments:

Boxing match image captured by one of AP’s AI-powered cameras
This image of a boxing match was captured by one of AP’s AI-powered cameras.
  • Deploying more than a dozen AI-powered robotic cameras at the 2016 Summer Olympics to capture angles not easily available to journalists
  • Using Google’s Cloud Vision API to classify and tag photos automatically throughout the report
  • Increasing news coverage of quarterly earnings reports from 400 to 4,000 companies using automation

The report also addressed key concerns, including risks associated with unchecked algorithms, potential for workflow disruption, and the growing gap in skill sets.

Here are three themes that emerged from the conversation with Rockwell and D’Aniello:

1. AI will increase a news organization's ability to focus on content creation

D’Aniello noted that journalists, often “pressed for resources,” are forced to “spend most of their time creating multiple versions of the same content for different outlets.” AI can reduce monotonous tasks like these and allow journalists to to spend more of their time on their core expertise: reporting.

For Rockwell, AI could also be leveraged to power new reporting, helping journalists analyze massive data sets to surface untold stories. Rockwell noted that “the big stories will be found in data, and whether we can find them or not will depend on our sophistication using large datasets.”

2. AI can help improve the quality of dialogue online and help organizations better understand their readers' needs.

Given the increasing abuse and harassment found in online conversations, many publishers are backing away from allowing comments on articles. For the Times, the Perspective API tool developed by Jigsaw (part of Google’s parent company Alphabet), is creating an opportunity to encourage constructive discussions online by using machine learning to increase the efficiency of comment moderation. Previously, the Times could only moderate comments on 10 percent of articles. The Times aspires to use Perspective to enable commenting on all its articles.

The Times is also thinking about using AI to increase the relevance of what they deliver to readers. As Rockwell notes, “Our readers have always looked to us to filter the world, but to do that only through editorial curation is a one-size-fits-all approach. There is a lot we can do to better serve them.”

3. Applying journalistic standards is essential to AI’s successful implementation in newsrooms

Both panelists agreed that the editorial standards that go into creating quality journalism should be applied to AI-fueled journalism. As Francesco Marconi, the author of the AP report, remarked, “Humans make mistakes. Algorithms make mistakes. All the editorial standards should be applied to the technology.”

Here are a few approaches we’ve seen for how those standards can be applied to the technology:

  • Pairing up journalists with the tech. At the AP, business journalists trained software to understand how to write an earnings report.
  • Serving as editorial gatekeepers. News editors should play a role in synthesizing and framing the information AI produces.
  • Ensuring more inclusive reporting. In 2016, Google.org, USC and the Geena Davis Foundation used machine learning to create a tool that collects data on gender portrayals in media.

What’s ahead

What will it take for AI to be a positive force in journalism? The conversation showed that while the path wasn’t certain, getting to the right answers would require close collaboration between the technology industry, news organizations, and journalists.

“There is a lot of work to do, but it’s about the mindset,” D’Aniello said. “Technology was seen as a disruptor of the newsroom, and it was difficult to introduce things. I don’t think this is the case anymore. The urgency and the need is perceived at the editorial level.”

We look forward to continuing to host more conversations on important topics like this one. Learn more about the Google News Lab on our website.

Header image of robotic camera courtesy of Associated Press.

AI in the newsroom: What’s happening and what’s next?

Bringing people together to discuss the forces shaping journalism is central to our mission at the Google News Lab. Earlier this month, we invited Nick Rockwell, the Chief Technology Officer from the New York Times, and Luca D’Aniello, the Chief Technology Officer at the Associated Press, to Google’s New York office to talk about the future of artificial intelligence in journalism and the challenges and opportunities it presents for newsrooms.

The event opened with an overview of the AP's recent report, "The Future of Augmented Journalism: a guide for newsrooms in the age of smart machines,” which was based on interviews with dozens of journalists, technologists, and academics (and compiled with the help of a robot, of course). As early adopters of this technology, the AP highlighted a number of their earlier experiments:

Boxing match image captured by one of AP’s AI-powered cameras
This image of a boxing match was captured by one of AP’s AI-powered cameras.
  • Deploying more than a dozen AI-powered robotic cameras at the 2016 Summer Olympics to capture angles not easily available to journalists
  • Using Google’s Cloud Vision API to classify and tag photos automatically throughout the report
  • Increasing news coverage of quarterly earnings reports from 400 to 4,000 companies using automation

The report also addressed key concerns, including risks associated with unchecked algorithms, potential for workflow disruption, and the growing gap in skill sets.

Here are three themes that emerged from the conversation with Rockwell and D’Aniello:

1. AI will increase a news organization's ability to focus on content creation

D’Aniello noted that journalists, often “pressed for resources,” are forced to “spend most of their time creating multiple versions of the same content for different outlets.” AI can reduce monotonous tasks like these and allow journalists to to spend more of their time on their core expertise: reporting.

For Rockwell, AI could also be leveraged to power new reporting, helping journalists analyze massive data sets to surface untold stories. Rockwell noted that “the big stories will be found in data, and whether we can find them or not will depend on our sophistication using large datasets.”

2. AI can help improve the quality of dialogue online and help organizations better understand their readers' needs.

Given the increasing abuse and harassment found in online conversations, many publishers are backing away from allowing comments on articles. For the Times, the Perspective API tool developed by Jigsaw (part of Google’s parent company Alphabet), is creating an opportunity to encourage constructive discussions online by using machine learning to increase the efficiency of comment moderation. Previously, the Times could only moderate comments on 10 percent of articles. The Times aspires to use Perspective to enable commenting on all its articles.

The Times is also thinking about using AI to increase the relevance of what they deliver to readers. As Rockwell notes, “Our readers have always looked to us to filter the world, but to do that only through editorial curation is a one-size-fits-all approach. There is a lot we can do to better serve them.”

3. Applying journalistic standards is essential to AI’s successful implementation in newsrooms

Both panelists agreed that the editorial standards that go into creating quality journalism should be applied to AI-fueled journalism. As Francesco Marconi, the author of the AP report, remarked, “Humans make mistakes. Algorithms make mistakes. All the editorial standards should be applied to the technology.”

Here are a few approaches we’ve seen for how those standards can be applied to the technology:

  • Pairing up journalists with the tech. At the AP, business journalists trained software to understand how to write an earnings report.
  • Serving as editorial gatekeepers. News editors should play a role in synthesizing and framing the information AI produces.
  • Ensuring more inclusive reporting. In 2016, Google.org, USC and the Geena Davis Foundation used machine learning to create a tool that collects data on gender portrayals in media.

What’s ahead

What will it take for AI to be a positive force in journalism? The conversation showed that while the path wasn’t certain, getting to the right answers would require close collaboration between the technology industry, news organizations, and journalists.

“There is a lot of work to do, but it’s about the mindset,” D’Aniello said. “Technology was seen as a disruptor of the newsroom, and it was difficult to introduce things. I don’t think this is the case anymore. The urgency and the need is perceived at the editorial level.”

We look forward to continuing to host more conversations on important topics like this one. Learn more about the Google News Lab on our website.

Header image of robotic camera courtesy of Associated Press.

AI in the newsroom: What’s happening and what’s next?

Bringing people together to discuss the forces shaping journalism is central to our mission at the Google News Lab. Earlier this month, we invited Nick Rockwell, the Chief Technology Officer from the New York Times, and Luca D’Aniello, the Chief Technology Officer at the Associated Press, to Google’s New York office to talk about the future of artificial intelligence in journalism and the challenges and opportunities it presents for newsrooms.

The event opened with an overview of the AP's recent report, "The Future of Augmented Journalism: a guide for newsrooms in the age of smart machines,” which was based on interviews with dozens of journalists, technologists, and academics (and compiled with the help of a robot, of course). As early adopters of this technology, the AP highlighted a number of their earlier experiments:

Boxing match image captured by one of AP’s AI-powered cameras
This image of a boxing match was captured by one of AP’s AI-powered cameras.
  • Deploying more than a dozen AI-powered robotic cameras at the 2016 Summer Olympics to capture angles not easily available to journalists
  • Using Google’s Cloud Vision API to classify and tag photos automatically throughout the report
  • Increasing news coverage of quarterly earnings reports from 400 to 4,000 companies using automation

The report also addressed key concerns, including risks associated with unchecked algorithms, potential for workflow disruption, and the growing gap in skill sets.

Here are three themes that emerged from the conversation with Rockwell and D’Aniello:

1. AI will increase a news organization's ability to focus on content creation

D’Aniello noted that journalists, often “pressed for resources,” are forced to “spend most of their time creating multiple versions of the same content for different outlets.” AI can reduce monotonous tasks like these and allow journalists to to spend more of their time on their core expertise: reporting.

For Rockwell, AI could also be leveraged to power new reporting, helping journalists analyze massive data sets to surface untold stories. Rockwell noted that “the big stories will be found in data, and whether we can find them or not will depend on our sophistication using large datasets.”

2. AI can help improve the quality of dialogue online and help organizations better understand their readers' needs.

Given the increasing abuse and harassment found in online conversations, many publishers are backing away from allowing comments on articles. For the Times, the Perspective API tool developed by Jigsaw (part of Google’s parent company Alphabet), is creating an opportunity to encourage constructive discussions online by using machine learning to increase the efficiency of comment moderation. Previously, the Times could only moderate comments on 10 percent of articles. Now, the technology has allowed them to allow commenting on all articles.

The Times is also thinking about using AI to increase the relevance of what they deliver to readers. As Rockwell notes, “Our readers have always looked to us to filter the world, but to do that only through editorial curation is a one-size-fits-all approach. There is a lot we can do to better serve them.”

3. Applying journalistic standards is essential to AI’s successful implementation in newsrooms

Both panelists agreed that the editorial standards that go into creating quality journalism should be applied to AI-fueled journalism. As Francesco Marconi, the author of the AP report, remarked, “Humans make mistakes. Algorithms make mistakes. All the editorial standards should be applied to the technology.”

Here are a few approaches we’ve seen for how those standards can be applied to the technology:

  • Pairing up journalists with the tech. At the AP, business journalists trained software to understand how to write an earnings report.
  • Serving as editorial gatekeepers. News editors should play a role in synthesizing and framing the information AI produces.
  • Ensuring more inclusive reporting. In 2016, Google.org, USC and the Geena Davis Foundation used machine learning to create a tool that collects data on gender portrayals in media.

What’s ahead

What will it take for AI to be a positive force in journalism? The conversation showed that while the path wasn’t certain, getting to the right answers would require close collaboration between the technology industry, news organizations, and journalists.

“There is a lot of work to do, but it’s about the mindset,” D’Aniello said. “Technology was seen as a disruptor of the newsroom, and it was difficult to introduce things. I don’t think this is the case anymore. The urgency and the need is perceived at the editorial level.”

We look forward to continuing to host more conversations on important topics like this one. Learn more about the Google News Lab on our website.

Header image of robotic camera courtesy of Associated Press.