Microsoft and OpenAI Invest $10 Million in AI Tools for Local Newsrooms

Microsoft, OpenAI Spending Millions to Help News Outlets Adapt to AI

News outlets will also receive $2.5 million worth of enterprise credits Microsoft and OpenAI, in collaboration with the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, announced an AI Collaborative and Fellowship programme on Tuesday. With this programme, the two tech giants will spend upwards of $10 million (roughly Rs. 84.07 crores) in direct funding as well as enterprise credits to use proprietary software. The companies highlighted that the programme was aimed at increasing the adaptation of artificial intelligence (AI) in newsrooms. As many as five news outlets have been announced as the beneficiary of this fellowship programme. In a blog post, OpenAI announced the fellowship programme. The AI firm highlighted that it is partnering with Microsoft and the Lenfest Institute of Journalism to "help newsrooms explore and implement ways in which artificial intelligence can help drive business sustainability and innovation in local journalism". The funding initiative, titled Lenfest Institute AI Collaborative and Fellowship programme, has finalised five news outlets which will receive funding in the initial round. As per the post, the selected news outlets include Chicago Public Media, Newsday (Long Island, NY), The Minnesota Star Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Seattle Times. Each of them will receive $2.5 million (roughly Rs. 21 crores) in direct funding and another $2.5 million in software and enterprise credits, for a total of up to $10 million. This will be a two-year programme with The Lenfest Institute's Local Independent News Coalition (LINC) and a group of eight metropolitan news organisations in the US. During this period, the news organisations will collaborate with each other as well as the larger industry ecosystem to "share learnings, product developments, case studies and technical information needed to help replicate their work in other newsrooms." Additionally, three more news organisations will be awarded funding in the second round of grants. The larger goal of the fellowship programme is to help news outlets develop the capacity to use AI for the analysis of public data, build news and visual archives, create new AI tools for newsrooms, and more. OpenAI said that the recipients were chosen after a comprehensive application process.

Microsoft and OpenAI are giving news outlets $10 million to use AI tools

Microsoft and OpenAI announced they're offering a select group of media outlets up to $10 million ($2.5 million in cash plus $2.5 million worth of "software and enterprise credits" from each) to try out AI tools in the newsroom. These outlets will receive a grant to hire a two-year fellow who will work to develop and implement AI tools using Microsoft Azure and OpenAI credits. The program is part of a collaboration between Microsoft, OpenAI, and the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, which aims to promote local media. "While nothing will replace the central role of reporters, we believe that AI technology can help in the research, investigation, distribution, and monetization of important journalism," Tom Rubin, the chief of intellectual property and content at OpenAI, said in the press release. Microsoft and OpenAI will provide grants to three more media organizations at a later date. Some AI applications that the outlets will explore include leveraging the technology for, transcription, content summaries, and creating a "conversational" search tool for archives.

OpenAI and Microsoft are funding $10 million in grants for AI-powered journalism

It's a small olive branch after a series of media lawsuits against the pair. OpenAI and Microsoft are funding projects to bring more AI tools into the newsroom. The duo will give grants of up to $10 million to Chicago Public Media, the Minnesota Star Tribune, Newsday (in Long Island, NY), The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Seattle Times. Each of the publications will hire a two-year AI fellow to develop projects for implementing the technology and improving business sustainability. Three more outlets are expected to receive fellowship grants in a second round. OpenAI and Microsoft are each contributing $2.5 million in direct funding as well as $2.5 million in software and enterprise credits. The Lenfest Institute of Journalism is collaborating with OpenAI and Microsoft on the project, and the news today. To date, the ties between journalism and AI have mostly ranged from suspicious to litigious. OpenAI and Microsoft have been sued by the , , . Some publications accused ChatGPT of plagiarizing their articles, and other suits centered on scraping web content for AI model training without permission or compensation. Other media outlets have opted to negotiate; was one of the latest to ink a deal with OpenAI for rights to their content. In a separate development, OpenAI has Aaron Chatterji as its first chief economist. Chatterji is a professor at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, and he also served on President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers as well as in President Joe Biden's Commerce Department.

OpenAI, Microsoft fund $10M Lenfest Institute AI local news project

Why it matters: The partnership represents the largest local news development collaborative working on AI specifically, per Jim Friedlich, executive director and CEO of The Lenfest Institute. Zoom in: The deal will fund an AI collaborative and fellowship program for five U.S. metro news organizations to start, including Chicago Public Media, The Minnesota Star Tribune, Long Island Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Seattle Times. By the numbers: OpenAI and Microsoft will equally contribute $5 million in grant funding to power the project and $5 million in enterprise credits for selected newsrooms to experiment with generative AI projects that can bolster local news. Between the lines: The deal only includes funding of the collaborative and AI fellows. It does not include any sort of licensing terms or real-time data exchanges to train and serve large language models at OpenAI and Microsoft. How it works: Each local outlet will use the funds and credits to explore different ways AI can be used to bolster local news editorially and commercially. The big picture: Local news has been devastated by the news industry's business crisis, putting the pressure mostly on philanthropic groups to fund innovation efforts. Zoom out: Most of the major AI partnerships brokered by OpenAI so far have been with national news outlets, but it has supported local news as well through its $5 million-plus deal with the American Journalism Project and more recently through its deal with Hearst, which includes 40 local newspapers. What to watch: OpenAI has taken the lead amongst the major AI companies in striking licensing deals with news outlets, but Microsoft recently said it would pay news outlets for content surfaced by its AI Copilot assistant.