GeekWire: “Microsoft announced five projects to help news organizations incorporate generative artificial intelligence into their operations, building on its existing efforts to use technology to support the role of journalism in democracy. The company will collaborate on different initiatives with Semafor, the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, the Online News Association, the GroundTruth Project, and Nota. The move highlights the complex relationship between tech giants and a broader news industry that has seen its traditions and business models repeatedly disrupted by digital innovations over three decades — from the dawn of the web, to the advent of Craigslist and Facebook, and now the rapid rise of AI. Microsoft and ChatGPT maker OpenAI were sued late last year by the New York Times for copyright violations over the alleged use of the newspaper’s stories to train large language models including GPT-4. The new initiatives announced Monday aim to establish procedures and practices for responsible AI use in newsgathering and business operations; provide AI training for reporters; and help to build sustainable journalistic business operations and viable newsrooms for the long run…”

See also FT.com (read free) – “Microsoft in deal with Semafor to create news stories with aid of AI chatbot. Collaboration comes as tech giant faces multibillion-dollar lawsuit from the New York Times.”