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Microsoft has just announced a partnership with the media start-up Semafor to create news stories using AI and ChatGPT.
According to The Financial Times, Microsoft agreed to sponsor a breaking news feed in Semafor called “Signals.” The new feed will publish dozens of posts daily, and all the posts are written by journalists, at least for now. AI and ChatGPT will be used as research tools for writers.
Microsoft and Semafor to launch a breaking news feed with AI-assisted stories
The amount of money Microsoft paid to Semafor has not yet been disclosed. However, a person familiar with the matter told FT that it is “substantial” to Semafor’s business.
Semafor is a news platform launched in 2022. It was co-founded by former Buzzfeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith and Justin Smith, the former chief executive of Bloomberg Media. The platform has developed AI research tools powered by ChatGPT and Microsoft Bing.
“Journalism has always used technology whether it’s carrier pigeons, the telegraph or anything else. This represents a real opportunity, a set of tools that are really a quantum leap above many of the other tools that have come along,” Gina Chua, Semafor’s executive editor, said.
The Microsoft-sponsored feed will focus on breaking events and gathering different viewpoints from various sources around the globe. For example, a breaking news event on the Signals feed might contain resources from Chinese, Indian, or Russian media. And reporters can summarize all that data in their story.
Former Associated Press journalist Noreen Gillespie, who now works at Microsoft, told the Financial Times, “Journalists need to adopt these tools in order to survive and thrive for another generation.”
AI is like a double-edged sword for media companies and journalists
Yet, media companies and journalists look at AI with fear and concern. News corporations are worried AI chatbots might steal traffic from their websites, which could result in plummeting revenue. Journalists also worry about their jobs and AI’s potential to replace them. Meanwhile, journalists can rely on AI to gather more data about a specific topic and use it as a sophisticated research tool.
The collaboration between Microsoft and Semafor coincides with The New York Times lawsuit against the tech firm over copyright infringement.