The New York Times asks readers questions about its AI use in reporting

In short: The New York Times is inviting readers to ask how its newsroom uses artificial intelligence, and says journalists still write and take responsibility for its articles.

What happened

The New York Times published an open call asking readers to submit questions about how the newsroom uses artificial intelligence.

Editors and reporters from across the newsroom said they will answer as many questions as they can. The Times also said it will not publish a reader’s question without getting the sender’s consent first, and that contact details will stay confidential within the newsroom.

Alongside the invitation, the Times described how it uses AI today. It said journalists use AI selectively and with human oversight, including to analyze large collections of documents and data. The Times gave examples like reviewing the Epstein files and examining President Trump’s public addresses, which can involve sorting through a lot of text, like using a helper to scan a huge pile of papers.

The Times also said it does not use AI to write articles. Journalists remain responsible for what is published.

The callout is focused on AI in Times journalism, not a general debate about AI’s risks and benefits. The Times has run a separate reader question feature for broader AI topics.

Why it matters

Many readers want to know when and how AI is involved in the news they read. By inviting questions and spelling out what it does and does not do, the Times is trying to make its process easier to understand and to address trust concerns directly.

Source: NYTimes