AI Search Tools And Chatbots May Make NZ News Less Visible And ...
Evidence is mounting that the new generative AI internet search tools provided by OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft can increase the risk of returning false, misleading, or partially correct information. Despite the implications of this for the news industry and an informed democracy, the New Zealand government has decided to leave AI considerations out of its plans to revive the previous government’s Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill. The proposed law will require Google and Meta (which runs Facebook and Instagram) to pay news companies for their content.
Impact on News Industry
While plenty of local news organizations receive money from Google, they don’t receive payments from Meta. Media and Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith says the proposed bill will have some amendments, but these will not be related to the increasing role of generative AI in news searches. The “broad issue of AI” would be considered later, he says. However, the bill will give the minister the power to decide which companies will be included under a new law, potentially opening the door to bring the likes of Microsoft and OpenAI to the negotiating table.
Role of AI-Powered Chatbots
AI-powered chatbots such as Google’s Gemini, Microsoft’s Copilot, and OpenAI’s ChatGPT respond to user prompts, giving answers based on information “scraped” from the internet, including news media sites. They also use news content – or any content they can find – to “train” their AI models. As AI companies are struggling to find enough data to do this training, they are making deals with news companies to use their content, including archives, to feed into their models.
Legal Challenges
Many big news companies have signed commercial deals for their content with AI companies. On the other hand, companies such as The New York Times and Alden Global Capital have taken a different approach. They are suing Microsoft and OpenAI for “illegally using news articles to power their AI chatbots”. In 2023, leading New Zealand news publisher Stuff stopped ChatGPT from using its stories to feed its software models. Since then, new research shows Stuff’s news content has also dropped in visibility in Google’s and Microsoft’s searches.
AI Impact on News Visibility
The study gathered data from 2023 and 2024, showing news diversity shrank in Google and Microsoft search. While both search engines offered news from legacy news media outlets, the category “other sources” grew dramatically between 2023 and 2024. AI-powered search engines increasingly link to random, non-news sources such as industry forums and press releases.
Future Implications
As more data is fed into AI-powered searches and chatbots, they may become more accurate. However, users should be careful about the reliability or independence of information sourced this way. The interactions between AI companies and news organizations will have consequences for democracy and media revenues.
Dealing with AI companies has left news organizations in a difficult situation. If they don’t make deals, they may lose potential extra revenue. If they do, there is no guarantee how their content will appear in generative AI search or chatbots.
Conclusion
AI search tools and chatbots have the potential to reshape how news is discovered and consumed. The ongoing developments in this field will have far-reaching implications for both the news industry and democratic societies.
