LA Times' AI 'Insights' Tool Sparks Controversy Over KKK Coverage

LA Times reportedly removes new AI tool from story after it downplayed KKK

A day after launch of contentious feature, its bias meter said some accounts see Klan as 'responding to societal changes' The Los Angeles Times has reportedly removed its new artificial intelligence (AI) tool from one of its articles, just a day after launching the feature. The publication unveiled a new AI-driven feature called "Insights" this week, designed to accompany articles that express a particular viewpoint or are "written from a personal perspective", such as opinion pieces, commentary and reviews. The purpose of the tool is to help readers understand where the "views expressed may fall on the political spectrum" and to provide annotated summaries "of the ideas expressed in the piece along with different views on the topic from a variety of sources", according to the LA Times website. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner of the LA Times, told readers on Monday that the feature would offer an "instantly accessible way to see a wide range of different AI-enabled perspectives alongside the positions presented in the article". Soon-Shiong also stated that this initiative represents "the next evolution of the LA Times", aimed at enhancing engagement with its audience. "I believe providing more varied viewpoints supports our journalistic mission and will help readers navigate the issues facing this nation," said Soon-Shiong. The feature now appears at the bottom of select articles in bullet points, with headings for "Viewpoint", indicating the article's political stance, and "Perspectives", summarizing ideas and presenting different views on the topic. Just one day after its release on Monday, the AI tool has already made headlines for producing controversial results. Earlier this week, the Guardian highlighted a 1 March opinion piece from the Los Angeles Times that discussed the risks of unregulated AI in historical documentaries. The outlet's AI tool notes that the article "generally aligns with a Center Left point of view" and states that AI democratizes historical storytelling. Then, on Tuesday, New York Times reporter Ryan Mac drew attention to the note from the AI tool on an LA Times article about the 100th anniversary of the city of Anaheim removing KKK members from its city council. The AI-generated note appeared to downplay the KKK's racist history, and stated: "Local historical accounts occasionally frame the 1920s Klan as a product of 'white Protestant culture' responding to societal changes rather than an explicitly hate-driven movement, minimizing its ideological threat." The Insights feature has since been removed from the article. The writer, columnist Gustavo Arellano, responded to the AI note on his article and said: "Um, AI actually got that right. [Orange County people] have minimized the 1920s Klan as basically anti-racists since it happened. But hey, what do I know? I'm just a guy who's been covering this for a quarter century." The union that represents the LA Times' journalists issued a statement this week expressing their concerns about the use of "AI-generated analysis unvetted by editorial staff". They stated that they do not believe this approach will "do much to enhance trust in the media. Quite the contrary, this tool risks further eroding confidence in the news." The introduction of AI features at the LA Times comes as last week Jeff Bezos, the billionaire Amazon founder and owner of the Washington Post, said that the newspaper would only publish opinions supporting "personal liberties and free markets". The LA Times initiative also comes amid ongoing tensions between the owner Soon-Shiong, opinion journalists and the greater newsroom regarding the newspaper's direction. Soon-Shiong had promised the AI tool for several months, first announcing it in December. That same month, he also reportedly asked the newspaper's editorial board to "take a break" from writing about Donald Trump. Before that, controversy swirled when Soon-Shiong blocked the newspaper's editorial board from endorsing Kamala Harris for president, leading to subscriber cancellations and high-profile resignations at the paper. The LA times did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

LA Times to display AI-generated political rating on opinion pieces

Los Angeles paper's 'Insights' tool comes after months of public debate between opinion staff and billionaire owner Some Los Angeles Times opinion pieces will now be published with an artificial intelligence-generated rating of their political content, and an AI-generated list of alternative political views on that issue, the paper's biotech billionaire owner announced on Monday. The new AI "Insights" feature will only be applied to a range of opinion content in the paper, not its news reporting, according to a public letter announcing the change from Patrick Soon-Shiong, the medical entrepreneur who bought the Los Angeles Times in 2018. The AI-generated tool "operates independently" from the paper's human journalists, and "the AI content is not reviewed by journalists before it is published", the Los Angeles Times noted in a summary of the new feature. The introduction of AI commentary on the paper's published opinion pieces comes after months of public battles over the role of journalism between Soon-Shiong and Los Angeles Times opinion journalists, conflicts that mirror similar Donald Trump-era battles at the Washington Post, owned by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos. Bezos recently announced that the Washington Post would only publish opinion pieces that support "personal liberties and free markets", and that "viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others." Soon-Shiong, who, like Bezos, has been accused of "anticipatory obedience" to Trump, and publicly praised by Elon Musk, is taking a different tack in reshaping his newspaper's editorial and opinion section, which had recently promoted more liberal and progressive viewpoints. In 2024, Soon-Shiong, like Bezos, blocked his paper's editorial board from endorsing Kamala Harris for president, setting off a wave of resignations of opinion section staffers and prompting some Los Angeles Times readers to cancel their subscriptions in protest. Soon-Shiong's initial public comments on a podcast in December about his plan to label his newspaper's journalism with an AI-generated "bias meter" prompted fierce pushback from the union representing the paper's journalists. Union leaders said in December that the paper's owner "has publicly suggested his staff harbors bias, without offering evidence or examples", and pledged they would continue to report according to the paper's longstanding journalism ethics standards. "We will firmly guard against any effort to improperly or unfairly alter our reporting," the Los Angeles Times guild said in December. In a statement on Monday, Soon-Shiong defended his new AI feature as in line with the paper's mission statement, which says that the paper will "strive to take into account different perspectives, particularly if they don't align with our own, to inform our views". "The purpose of Insights is to offer readers an instantly accessible way to see a wide range of different AI-enabled perspectives alongside the positions presented in the article," Soon-Shiong said in a statement. The paper made clear that the content provided by Soon-Shiong's new AI Insights feature, which will not be not reviewed by the Los Angeles Times' journalists, may not be accurate, noting that "artificial intelligence can be imperfect and incomplete", and urging readers to report any errors that they find. The political ratings feature will use "viewpoint analysis" to label Los Angeles Times content with a political perspective as "Left, Center Left, Center, Center Right or Right," the paper said, producing these ratings through a partnership with Particle.News, a startup founded in 2024 by former Twitter engineers. These ratings will apply not only to the paper's opinion section pieces, but to any "articles that offer a point of view on an issue", the paper said in a statement. That includes not only opinion columns and editorials, but also "news commentary, criticism, reviews, and more", the paper said. Soon-Shiong also announced the paper would be more clearly labeling its articles to distinguish news from opinion. "Any content written from a point of view may be labeled Voices, which helps to strengthen the separation between what's news and what's not," he said in his statement. The AI analysis of the content of these "voices" pieces, and alternate viewpoints, will be provided through a partnership with Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine company, the Los Angeles Times said. The last remaining Los Angeles Times opinion section staffer announced in late February that she would take a buyout and leave the paper, the Columbia Journalism Review reported.

The LA Times' AI 'bias meter' looks like a bid to please Donald Trump | Margaret Sullivan

The paper's billionaire owner, who barred it from endorsing Kamala Harris, is leaving human journalists out of the equation The past few months have been brutal ones for the readers and journalists of the largest news organization in California, the Los Angeles Times. Since he bought the paper in 2018, the billionaire and medical entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong has become something of a Donald Trump acolyte. That's his right. Many media owners have political views; but the best keep those views to themselves, or at least allow their news organizations to exercise editorial freedom. But Soon-Shiong, who took over promising to steady the ship and return it to financial health, has turned out to be a deeply flawed leader. You might recall that many longtime subscribers canceled their subscriptions months ago when Soon-Shiong blocked his editorial board's decision to endorse Kamala Harris for president. Then he reportedly told his editorial board to "take a break" from writing about Trump, and, according to a staff memo signed by members of the opinion section, instituted a policy in which articles critical of the newly elected president were to be published side-by-side with the opposing, pro-Trump, view. That's straight-up meddling. But now, he's taken a more public-facing step by inflicting what's become known as a "bias meter" on some LA Times opinion pieces. Its findings are generated by artificial intelligence, without human intervention or review. If there's one firm rule about the use of AI in journalism, it's this: there should always be a "human in the loop" before publication. Why? Because AI, at least at this point, is often wrong on the facts, and because many news consumers are suspicious of it. At the LA Times, the AI-powered "Insights" feature evaluates opinion articles and puts a label on them - for example, "center left." Then it provides "different views." Articles about Trump-related policies have gotten the bias meter treatment - for example, an opinion piece on Ukraine that stated that "Trump is surrendering a century's worth of US global power in a matter of weeks." According to the Guardian's Lois Beckett, that piece is followed by an AI-generated summary of "different views", such as describing Trump's policy as "a pragmatic reset of US foreign policy". Soon-Shiong called the new feature a victory for viewpoint diversity. "No more echo chamber," he crowed on social media. It looks more like a way to avoid offending President Trump. Let's get real. Many opinion pieces at legitimate publications these days are critical of Trump - for good reason, given the chaotic damage he and his helpers have unleashed. So this effort is less a rooting out of lefty bias than a way to give a platform to pro-Trump views. At well-run news companies, it is journalists themselves - editors, in particular - who can point out unfairness, inaccuracy or bias. And they deal with that, editor to writer, before pieces are published. "Our members - and all Times staffers - abide by a strict sense of ethics guidelines, which call for fairness, precision, transparency, vigilance against bias, and an earnest search to understand all sides of an issue," the LA Guild, the union representing the paper's journalists, said in a statement objecting to Soon-Shiong's idea. These days, many of the opinion-side journalists at the LA Times have fled. This is apparently no longer a place where they feel they can do their jobs. Soon-Shiong's gambit is happening in a broader context of media companies yielding to Trump's will, as Axios's Sara Fischer aptly noted. Journalists are doing their jobs, but owners are "compromised", she wrote, listing some of the most prominent examples: ABC News settled a defamation suit by Trump it could have won; CBS seems poised to settle Trump's absurd claim against its flagship 60 Minutes show; Disney and Paramount have rolled back some DEI policies; the Washington Post's opinion section will reflect owner Jeff Bezos's beliefs about "personal liberties and free markets". Some of the bias-meter results so far are simply weird, as in an AI response to an article critical of AI itself. The original piece, by two experts in film production, explored the dangers of AI-generated footage within documentary films and how it could shatter audience trust in the visuals they see. The AI-generated bias meter labeled this piece "center-left" and provided "different views". Another piece, reflecting on the history of the KKK in Anaheim, California, included an AI-generated defense of the Klan at the bottom, as the tech journalist Ryan Mac pointed out. It's since been removed. I can't imagine what reader would want to trot around in this silly circle like a horse on a lead line. Most of us can read a viewpoint article and decide, all by ourselves, without a helpful robot, whether we agree. In the name of viewpoint diversity - but really to push his paper Trump-ward - Soon-Shiong has done far more harm than good. His bias meter should - quickly - go the way of hot type, the manual typewriter, and the dodo.

LA Times Will Label Opinion Articles With AI-Powered 'Bias Meter'

Some articles will also include a new section that automatically generates counterarguments using AI models from Perplexity. The Los Angeles Times has seen better days as the company's billionaire owner continues taking a wrecking ball to the nearly 150-year-old institution. Waves of layoffs and editorial interference by Patrick Soon-Shiong, a vocal Trump supporter, has tanked morale, and now the owner has set his sights on AI as the panacea that will improve trust and, ultimately, the fortunes of the newspaper. Soon-Shiong announced this week that opinion articles will now include an AI-powered bias meter that labels articles based on an algorithm's perceived interpretation of its political leanings. The new labels include “Left, Center Left, Center, Center Right or Right,†and are determined by a startup called Particle.News, which was founded by former Twitter engineers. There will also be a section called "Viewspoints," powered by AI startup Perplexity, that will display alternative views to those put forth in an article. These new AI products will apply not just to opinion pieces but any “articles that offer a point of view on an issue,†according to a statement received by The Guardian. Opinion-oriented articles will be more clearly delineated from straight news reports with a new "Voices" label. Standard news articles will not include the AI features. Trust in media is notoriously low, and it is worth experimenting to see how the tide can be turned. But it is all a bit ironic that Soon-Shiong claims to be trying to improve trust in the media while he repeatedly interferes in reporting. The billionaire caught flak in 2024 after sharing on X an opinion piece that the original author claimed was altered after submission to make it appear more positive about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Multiple staffers left after Soon-Shiong similarly interfered in an article regarding one of his friends who got into an altercation over a dog attack. It does not instill much "trust" when the billionaire owner is second-guessing journalists' decisions about newsworthiness and getting personally involved when reporters are investigating his friends. While the Times' editorial union is not necessarily opposed to displaying alternative opinions against an article, they say that AI is not the way to do this. The AI-generated viewpoints will not be scrutinized by editors, and of course, AI models continue to make up information and get basic queries wrong (during the recent Oscars, ChatGPT surfaced nominees from the wrong year). Already, the Guardian reports that some of the contrasting viewpoints suggested by the AI tool were featured in the article itself. “The money for this endeavor could have been directed elsewhere: supporting our journalists on the ground who have had no cost-of-living increase since 2021,†said Matt Hamilton, vice president of the LATimes Guild. It seems inevitable that we are heading towards a place where the internet is rife with AI-created, pseudo-academic writing filled with made-up facts and quotes, which will then get cemented into “knowledge†as those articles become the training fodder for future models. How much of this will end up in the alternative viewpoints on Times articles? Perplexity, it should be noted, has shown disdain for the journalism industry in general by scraping articles and regurgitating them almost whole-cloth in its chatbot, claiming fair use over the practice. When New York Times staffers went on strike last year during labor negotiations, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas offered to provide AI tools that he suggested could replace them. Showing similar disdain for his own employees, it would not be surprising to see Soon-Shiong expand the use of AI to write entire articles. Other news organizations have experimented with AI in small and subtle ways. The Washington Post now automatically summarizes articles and surfaces key points at the top. That newspaper is experiencing its own turmoil as billionaire owner Jeff Bezos pivots from a hands-off ownership to exerting more control and making its opinion section entirely pro-capitalism and "free markets." The Post lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers since Bezos blocked the newspaper from endorsing Kamala Harris and has again bled subscribers following the changes to the opinion section. It was only a few years ago that the likes of Bezos appeared to be benevolent billionaires who would swoop in and save legacy media from the destruction wrought by the internet. We were naive to believe that. This was always going to be the problem with news organizations owned by billionaires with conflicting interests. Today, the name of the game is pleasing President Trump so he does not go on the attack against Amazon, and perhaps tosses Blue Origin some new contracts.

LA Times Uses AI to Provide "Different Views" on the KKK

The Los Angeles Times is now shoving artificial intelligence into its opinion articles -- and it already seems to be backfiring. Earlier this week, the newspaper's billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong announced that the LA Times would be "releasing new features to enhance and improve our digital product," including "insights" on opinion pieces that offer a "wide range of different AI-enabled perspectives." In other words, AI will generate counter-arguments to opinion pieces penned by the newspaper's human experts, with no input from the paper's journalists. In one of the bullet points, the AI noted that some people in the region think there's no "formal proof" that the KKK was all that bad. In another, it pointed out that the Klan was considered part of "white Protestant culture" in 1920s Orange County. Are those claims exactly wrong? Not really, the author of the original op-ed conceded, but they're giving oxygen -- with no rebuttal -- to talking points that soften up the image of a notorious racist terrorist group. "The AI 'well, actually'-ed the KKK," NYT tech reporter Ryan Mac wrote in a Bluesky post that included screenshots of the contextual addendums, which appear to have been removed after the backlash. The newspaper's communications team has not responded to Futurism's email asking why such content was added to the article or why it was deleted. In response to news that the paper was introducing these generative rebuttals, LA Times Guild vice-chair Matt Hamilton said that the paper's editors don't review the AI-generated additions to opinion pieces before they go live. "We don't think this approach -- AI-generated analysis unvetted by editorial staff -- will do much to enhance trust in the media," the union leader said in a statement provided to The Hollywood Reporter and other outlets. "Quite the contrary, this tool risks further eroding confidence in the news."

LA Times to give op-eds AI-generated political rating, list of alternate views

The Los Angeles Times has launched an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven feature that will appear with some opinion content to help readers identify potential bias, owner and executive chairman Patrick Soon-Shiong announced Monday. "The purpose of Insights is to offer readers an instantly accessible way to see a wide range of different AI-enabled perspectives alongside the positions presented in the article," Soon-Shiong wrote in a letter to readers, touting the move and other initiatives as "the next evolution of the L.A. Times to better engage with our audience." "I believe providing more varied viewpoints supports our journalistic mission and will help readers navigate the issues facing this nation," he added. The new tech tool, which has been referred to as a "bias meter," faced backlash when the plan was first discussed in December, but Soon-Shiong defended the plan. "Somebody could understand as they read it that the source of the article has some level of bias," the billionaire health care mogul who bought the newspaper in 2018 told CNN commentator Scott Jennings last year. According to Monday's email, the new tool will only be applied to the Times' "Voices" content, which includes opinion articles and pieces that provide a "personal perspective," including news commentary, criticism and reviews. A disclaimer on the AI-driven effort, dubbed "L.A. Times Insights," notes that the analysis it provides "is not created by the editorial staff of the Los Angeles Times and makes no judgment on the quality of any piece of journalism or the viewpoint it espouses." An opinion piece the Times published Monday from political commentator Matt K. Lewis about President Trump's approach to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia after an explosive meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last week includes the new Insights feature at the bottom of the article. The AI tool determined that the "article generally aligns with a Center Left point of view." It also provides four summary points with citations offering deeper context and four points providing alternate views on the issue.

LA Times adds AI-generated counterpoints to opinion pieces

The Los Angeles Times said Monday it was adding AI-generated counter-arguments to opinion pieces to help readers grasp differing points of view. The move comes as the Times struggles with plunging readership and heavy financial losses that have led to heavy job cuts. It also comes as some media owners seek greater control over their outlets' coverage as President Donald Trump's administration turns the screws on what it sees as unfavorable reporting. In a letter to readers, owner Patrick Soon-Shiong said every article containing any kind of opinion would now be labeled "Voices," to "ensure readers can readily distinguish" it from news reporting. "Voices is not strictly limited to Opinion section content," Soon-Shiong wrote. "It also includes news commentary, criticism, reviews, and more. If a piece takes a stance or is written from a personal perspective, it may be labeled Voices." Computer-generated "Insights" will be appended to some of that content, identifying where on the political spectrum the view sits, he said. "The purpose of Insights is to offer readers an instantly accessible way to see a wide range of different AI-enabled perspectives alongside the positions presented in the article. "I believe providing more varied viewpoints supports our journalistic mission and will help readers navigate the issues facing this nation." Readers soon weighed in with their own opinions on the idea, with the comments section of the article overwhelmingly negative about the initiative. "Readers don't read the paper for AI written summaries. We can find that for free online. Just hire good journalists instead," wrote self-described "longtime subscriber-reader" bkshyrock+1. "I pay cash to read well-reported stories written by, wait for it, humans. I don't want this artificial slop anywhere near my journalism," wrote pnukayapetra, adding: "Can we replace Soon-Shiong with AI instead?" Other commenters linked the move to an announcement last week by the Washington Post's billionaire owner Jeff Bezos, who said his paper would only publish opinion pieces in support of "personal liberties and free markets," in what was widely interpreted an effort to curry favor with Trump. "Welcome to Pravda on the Pacific," quipped omt160, in a reference the official newspaper of the Soviet Union's Communist Party. "Only those ideas approved by Dear Leader will be acceptable. Quite surprised that there is another fascist high tech billionaire competing with Bezos for the title of Most Subservient Media Tool." The Times was once a giant on the US media stage, with correspondents around the globe. But years of retrenchments have seen it shrink, and last year mass layoffs further ruffled an already restless newsroom. Critics say the paper appears directionless, and while it still paints itself as a national title with a West Coast perspective, it has a much more parochial feel nowadays.

LA Times adds AI-generated counterpoints to opinion pieces

In a letter to readers, owner Patrick Soon-Shiong said every article containing any kind of opinion would now be labelled "Voices," to "ensure readers can readily distinguish" it from news reporting. "Voices is not strictly limited to Opinion section content," Soon-Shiong wrote.The Los Angeles Times said Monday it was adding AI-generated counter-arguments to opinion pieces to help readers grasp differing points of view. The move comes as the Times struggles with plunging readership and heavy financial losses that have led to heavy job cuts. It also comes as some media owners seek greater control over their outlets' coverage as President Donald Trump's administration turns the screws on what it sees as unfavorable reporting. In a letter to readers, owner Patrick Soon-Shiong said every article containing any kind of opinion would now be labelled "Voices," to "ensure readers can readily distinguish" it from news reporting. "Voices is not strictly limited to Opinion section content," Soon-Shiong wrote. "It also includes news commentary, criticism, reviews, and more. If a piece takes a stance or is written from a personal perspective, it may be labeled Voices." Computer-generated "Insights" will be appended to some of that content, identifying where on the political spectrum the view sits, he said. "The purpose of Insights is to offer readers an instantly accessible way to see a wide range of different AI-enabled perspectives alongside the positions presented in the article. "I believe providing more varied viewpoints supports our journalistic mission and will help readers navigate the issues facing this nation." Readers soon weighed in with their own opinions on the idea, with the comments section of the article overwhelmingly negative about the initiative. "Readers don't read the paper for AI written summaries. We can find that for free online. Just hire good journalists instead," wrote self-described "longtime subscriber-reader" bkshyrock+1. "I pay cash to read well-reported stories written by, wait for it, humans. I don't want this artificial slop anywhere near my journalism," wrote pnukayapetra, adding: "Can we replace Soon-Shiong with AI instead?" Other commenters linked the move to an announcement last week by the Washington Post's billionaire owner Jeff Bezos, who said his paper would only publish opinion pieces in support of "personal liberties and free markets," in what was widely interpreted an effort to curry favor with Trump. "Welcome to Pravda on the Pacific," quipped omt160, in a reference the official newspaper of the Soviet Union's Communist Party. "Only those ideas approved by Dear Leader will be acceptable. Quite surprised that there is another fascist high tech billionaire competing with Bezos for the title of Most Subservient Media Tool." The Times was once a giant on the US media stage, with correspondents around the globe. But years of retrenchments have seen it shrink, and last year mass layoffs further ruffled an already restless newsroom. Critics say the paper appears directionless, and while it still paints itself as a national title with a West Coast perspective, it has a much more parochial feel nowadays. hg/amz/st

LA Times adds AI-generated counterpoints to opinion pieces

Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) - The Los Angeles Times said Monday it was adding AI-generated counter-arguments to opinion pieces to help readers grasp differing points of view. The move comes as the Times struggles with plunging readership and heavy financial losses that have led to heavy job cuts. It also comes as some media owners seek greater control over their outlets' coverage as President Donald Trump's administration turns the screws on what it sees as unfavorable reporting. In a letter to readers, owner Patrick Soon-Shiong said every article containing any kind of opinion would now be labelled "Voices," to "ensure readers can readily distinguish" it from news reporting. "Voices is not strictly limited to Opinion section content," Soon-Shiong wrote. "It also includes news commentary, criticism, reviews, and more. If a piece takes a stance or is written from a personal perspective, it may be labeled Voices." Computer-generated "Insights" will be appended to some of that content, identifying where on the political spectrum the view sits, he said. "The purpose of Insights is to offer readers an instantly accessible way to see a wide range of different AI-enabled perspectives alongside the positions presented in the article. "I believe providing more varied viewpoints supports our journalistic mission and will help readers navigate the issues facing this nation." Readers soon weighed in with their own opinions on the idea, with the comments section of the article overwhelmingly negative about the initiative. "Readers don't read the paper for AI written summaries. We can find that for free online. Just hire good journalists instead," wrote self-described "longtime subscriber-reader" bkshyrock+1. "I pay cash to read well-reported stories written by, wait for it, humans. I don't want this artificial slop anywhere near my journalism," wrote pnukayapetra, adding: "Can we replace Soon-Shiong with AI instead?" Other commenters linked the move to an announcement last week by the Washington Post's billionaire owner Jeff Bezos, who said his paper would only publish opinion pieces in support of "personal liberties and free markets," in what was widely interpreted an effort to curry favor with Trump. "Welcome to Pravda on the Pacific," quipped omt160, in a reference the official newspaper of the Soviet Union's Communist Party. "Only those ideas approved by Dear Leader will be acceptable. Quite surprised that there is another fascist high tech billionaire competing with Bezos for the title of Most Subservient Media Tool." The Times was once a giant on the US media stage, with correspondents around the globe. But years of retrenchments have seen it shrink, and last year mass layoffs further ruffled an already restless newsroom. Critics say the paper appears directionless, and while it still paints itself as a national title with a West Coast perspective, it has a much more parochial feel nowadays.

L.A. Times Owner Adds Bias Meter, AI-Generated Copy On Articles, Drawing Criticism From Guild

Hollywood Unions Traveling to Sacramento to Lobby for California's Film and TV Tax Credit Expansion Los Angeles Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong is again raising eyebrows amongst the paper's staff with the introduction of an AI-powered feature that analyzes stories for their political viewpoint. The executive chairman of L.A.'s paper of record announced this "L.A. Times Insights" tool in a letter to readers on Monday alongside a couple of other editorial changes. The feature, as demonstrated in several articles that appeared on the paper's website on Monday, situates a piece's tone within the political spectrum (an opinion piece calling for disclosure of the use of A.I. in documentaries was "center left"; another saying the American conservative movement should shun the Tate brothers was considered "right"). It also summarizes a piece's position and offers up "different views on the topic" with links to alternate news articles or blog entries. "The purpose of Insights is to offer readers an instantly accessible way to see a wide range of different AI-enabled perspectives alongside the positions presented in the article," Soon-Shiong wrote. "I believe providing more varied viewpoints supports our journalistic mission and will help readers navigate the issues facing this nation." The Insights feature will be attached only to some pieces considered to be written "from a point of view," which will now be labeled "Voices." The purpose of these changes, according to the paper's owner, is to further delineate opinion work from news reporting. Wrote Soon-Shiong, "If a piece takes a stance or is written from a personal perspective, it may be labeled Voices" -- whether it is a classic opinion piece, a film review or a commentary on the news. In a statement, L.A. Times Guild vice chair Matt Hamilton said the newspaper's union supported initiatives that will help readers better understand the media and opinion versus news reporting. "But we don't think this approach -- AI-generated analysis unvetted by editorial staff -- will do much to enhance trust in the media," Hamilton said. "Quite the contrary, this tool risks further eroding confidence in the news. And the money for this endeavor could have been directed elsewhere: supporting our journalists on the ground who have had no cost-of-living increase since 2021." Soon-Shiong's letter to readers on Monday noted that errors may be produced as a result of the Insights feature. "AI is an experimental, evolving technology. If you see an error, please report it on the Insights page," the letter stated. Soon-Shiong has promised such a tool since at least late last year, when he announced the paper's product team was working on a "bias meter." Tensions between Soon-Shiong, who bought the Times in 2018, and the paper's staff began spilling out into the open early last year as top editor Kevin Merida headed for the exits. But things escalated in late October after it was revealed that Soon-Shiong decided the paper would not endorse any presidential candidate in the 2024 election, prompting three members of the editorial board to resign. Soon-Shiong has since been on an apparent campaign to reshape the paper, going on Fox News in November to claim he would move the publication in the direction of sharing the "views of all" and calling for conservative CNN commentator Scott Jennings to join the editorial board (Jennings now contributes pieces to the paper). Recently, meanwhile, a buyout offer has shrunk the paper's staff. Editorial writer Carla Hall, who has said she was the final member of the editorial board before she left, took the offer.

AI now 'analyzes' LA Times articles for bias

It's only been a day, but the change has already generated some questionable results. The Guardian points to a March 1st LA Times opinion piece about the danger inherent in unregulated use of AI to produce content for historical documentaries. At the bottom, the outlet's new AI tool claims that the story "generally aligns with a Center Left point of view" and suggests that "AI democratizes historical storytelling." Insights were also apparently added to the bottom of a February 25th LA Times story about California cities that elected Klu Klux Klan members to their city councils in the 1920s. One of the now-removed, AI-generated, bullet-pointed views is that local historical accounts sometimes painted the Klan as "a product of 'white Protestant culture' responding to societal changes rather than an explicitly hate-driven movement, minimizing its ideological threat." That is correct, as the author points out on X, but it seems to be clumsily presented as a counterpoint to the story's premise - that the Klan's faded legacy in Anaheim, California has lived on in school segregation, anti-immigration laws, and local neo-Nazi bands.

The LA Times published an op-ed warning of AI's dangers. It also published its AI tool's reply

'Insight' labeled the argument 'center-left' and created a reply insisting AI will make storytelling more democratic Beneath a recent Los Angeles Times opinion piece about the dangers of artificial intelligence, there is now an AI-generated response about how AI will make storytelling more democratic. "Some in the film world have met the arrival of generative AI tools with open arms. We and others see it as something deeply troubling on the horizon," the co-directors of the Archival Producers Alliance, Rachel Antell, Stephanie Jenkins and Jennifer Petrucelli, wrote on 1 March. Published over the Academy Awards weekend, their comment piece focused on the specific dangers of AI-generated footage within documentary film, and the possibility that unregulated use of AI could shatter viewers' "faith in the veracity of visuals". On Monday, the Los Angeles Times's just-debuted AI tool, "Insight", labeled this argument as politically "center-left" and provided four "different views on the topic" underneath. These new AI-generated responses, which are not reviewed by Los Angeles Times journalists before they are published, are designed to provide "voice and perspective from all sides," the paper's billionaire owner, Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong, wrote on X on Monday. "No more echo chamber." Now, a published criticism of AI on the LA Times's website is followed by an artificially generated defense of AI - in this case, a lengthy one, running more than 150 words. Responding to the human writers, the AI tool argued not only that AI "democratizes historical storytelling", but also that "technological advancements can coexist with safeguards" and that "regulation risks stifling innovation". "Proponents argue AI's potential for artistic expression and education outweighs its misuse risks, provided users maintain critical awareness," the generated text reads. Antell, Jenkins and Petrucell declined to comment on the AI response to their opinion piece. The "different views" on LA Times opinion pieces are AI-generated in partnership with Perplexity, an AI company, according to the LA Times, while the "viewpoint analysis" of the piece as "Left, Center Left, Center, Center Right or Right" is generated in partnership with Particle News, the Los Angeles Times said. While Soon-Shiong argued on Monday that the AI-generated content beneath Los Angeles Times's opinion pieces "supports our journalistic mission and will help readers navigate the issues facing this nation", the union that represents his paper's journalists take a different view. While the paper's journalists support efforts to improve news literacy and to distinguish news from opinion, "we don't think this approach - AI-generated analysis unvetted by editorial staff - will do much to enhance trust in the media," Matt Hamilton, the vice-chair of LA Times Guild, said in a statement on Monday. "Quite the contrary, this tool risks further eroding confidence in the news." The AI tool is only providing its extra commentary on a range of opinion pieces, not on the paper's news reporting, the Los Angeles Times said. Most of the time, of course, the newspaper's AI tool will not provide an AI's response to arguments about artificial intelligence. Instead, as in several recent opinion pieces, the AI "Insights" button provides pro-Trump responses to opinion pieces critical of Donald Trump.