From Wired:
Politico became one of the first newsrooms last year to win a union contract that included rules on how the media outlet can deploy artificial intelligence. The PEN Guild, which represents Politico and its sister publication, environment and energy site E&E News, is now gearing up for another first. The union’s members allege that the AI provisions in their contract have been violated, and they’re preparing for a groundbreaking legal dispute with management. The outcome could set a precedent for how much input journalists ultimately have over how AI is used in their newsrooms.
Last year, Politico began publishing AI-generated live news summaries during big political events like the Democratic National Convention and the US vice presidential debates. This March, it debuted a suite of AI tools called Policy Intelligence Assistance for paying subscribers, which were built in partnership with the Y Combinator-backed startup Capitol AI.
Politico union members allege these tools violated their contract in several ways, and are taking the dispute to arbitration this July. “The company is required to give us 60 days notice of any use of new technology that will materially and substantively impact bargaining unit job duties,” says PEN union chair and E&E public health reporter Ariel Wittenberg. The union claims that it was given neither notice nor an opportunity to bargain in good faith over Politico’s AI rollout, and that the tools do work that would ordinarily be done by human staff.
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