Google has announced that it will give big cash to California legislatures to give to local newsrooms, which has sparked some unease among journalists over AI’s effects on their employment. The transactions are worth millions of dollars and have caused quite a stir among the journalists and some Democrats.
This agreement is part of the Google’s global program to support the media industry, which has been discussed, for example, in the context of Australia and Canada. Such measures have come into force as the media industry faces shrinking circulation and cutbacks in advertising thus laying off thousands of employments globally.
The work of the undertaking pertains to Google and California who are to provide funding over several years for local newsrooms without broadcasters. This funding will be channelled through what is known as a ‘‘News Transformation Fund’’ which will be located at the University of California Berkeley’s journalism school. It also lacks public financing explicitly, even though Google is to contribute $110 million and the state $70 million.
The funding for artificial intelligence has stoked alarm among journalists because the tasks they perform may soon be automated by AI systems. Also, some Democrats have complained about what they refer to as Google using its muscle to gain concessions from Sacramento. Nonetheless, the California News Publishers Association has supported the deal by reckoning the deal as a good start towards fixing the structurally flawed business model of journalism. On the same, the Media Guild of the West, a journalist union however expresses skepticism arguing that the deal is silent on how Google exercises so much control over newsrooms.