Home Microsoft announce new partnership with journalism organizations

Microsoft announce new partnership with journalism organizations

Microsoft announced several new collaborations on Monday (Feb. 5) aimed at helping news organizations adopt artificial intelligence (AI) tools and techniques.

The initiatives are part of Microsoft’s broader efforts to ensure journalism can innovate to serve the public interest during a critical election year.

Through these new programs, Microsoft will provide AI training, resources, and technology access to partnering news outlets and journalism schools. The goal is to demonstrate how AI can make news gathering more efficient and sustainable while upholding ethical standards.

“Our goal is to support thriving, sustainable newsrooms with the technology they need to perform the essential function of informing the world,” Noreen Gillespie, Journalism Director of Microsoft wrote on the Reporting The World blog said.

The collaborating organizations include The GroundTruth Project, Semafor, the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, the Online News Association (ONA), and the AI startup Nota.

GroundTruth will add an AI track for its corps of local reporters. Semafor will use Microsoft tools to help journalists discover diverse sources and perspectives. The CUNY journalism school will offer a tuition-free AI training program for working journalists. ONA will host events and training sessions to scale AI best practices. Nota, which is already partnering with over 100 newsrooms on AI, plans to release a new tool to optimize content.

All partners have committed to sharing their findings across the media industry. The projects build on Microsoft’s Democracy Forward initiative launched last year to help journalism counter information threats.

Central to these efforts is ensuring human journalists remain at the core of newsrooms. “Healthy news organizations do not exist without journalists who know their communities and topics,” Gillespie affirmed.

By demonstrating AI’s potential while mitigating risks, Microsoft hopes to shed positive light on how emerging technologies can sustain quality journalism despite economic headwinds. With billions voting in elections worldwide this year, the company sees reliable, ethical journalism as critical for healthy democracies.

“The survival of fact-based news is inextricably linked to healthy democracies, thriving communities, and civic participation,” Gillespie concluded.

AI disruption in journalism

The news industry is no stranger to disruption. It has been hit hard by the switch to online media consumption and the corresponding decline in print revenue. Then there have been major issues with Google and Facebook gobbling up the lion’s share of ad revenue and finally, with it easier than ever to set up a news website, small, insurgent, independent publications have sprung up.

AI poses a new challenge. While AI tools hold promise to improve efficiency in newsrooms, there are also significant downsides to relying too heavily on automated technologies for news gathering and production. It also poses concerning risks regarding loss of quality, diversity, jobs and trust.

Clearly, it’s a technology that cannot be ignored and must be tackled head-on. The benefits could outweigh the negatives, but only if managed carefully and consciously.

About ReadWrite’s Editorial Process

The ReadWrite Editorial policy involves closely monitoring the tech industry for major developments, new product launches, AI breakthroughs, video game releases and other newsworthy events. Editors assign relevant stories to staff writers or freelance contributors with expertise in each particular topic area. Before publication, articles go through a rigorous round of editing for accuracy, clarity, and to ensure adherence to ReadWrite's style guidelines.

Sam Shedden
Executive Editor

Sam Shedden is an experienced journalist and editor with over a decade in online news. A seasoned technology writer and content strategist, he has contributed to many UK regional and national publications including The Scotsman, inews.co.uk, nationalworld.com, Edinburgh Evening News, The Daily Record and more. Sam has written and edited content for audiences whose interests include media, technology, AI, start-ups and innovation. He's also produced and set-up email newsletters in numerous specialist topics in previous roles and his work on newsletters saw him nominated as Newsletter Hero Of The Year at the UK's Publisher Newsletter Awards 2023. He has worked…

Get the biggest tech headlines of the day delivered to your inbox

    By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe anytime.

    Tech News

    Explore the latest in tech with our Tech News. We cut through the noise for concise, relevant updates, keeping you informed about the rapidly evolving tech landscape with curated content that separates signal from noise.

    In-Depth Tech Stories

    Explore tech impact in In-Depth Stories. Narrative data journalism offers comprehensive analyses, revealing stories behind data. Understand industry trends for a deeper perspective on tech's intricate relationships with society.

    Expert Reviews

    Empower decisions with Expert Reviews, merging industry expertise and insightful analysis. Delve into tech intricacies, get the best deals, and stay ahead with our trustworthy guide to navigating the ever-changing tech market.