BBC Blocks OpenAI but Is Positive About AI Journalism

This is Hamamoto from TIMEWELL

This is Hamamoto from TIMEWELL.

BBC Blocks OpenAI but Is Positive About AI Journalism

BBC announces guidelines for the use of generative AI.

Three principles: public interest, respect for artists' rights, and transparency of AI outputs.

Working with technology companies and other media to advance AI development that maintains trust.

Plans to Launch New AI-Powered Projects Within Months

Plans to launch new AI-powered projects within months.

BBC blocks OpenAI and Common Crawl crawler access to protect the public interest.

Reporter: Emilia David (reporter specializing in AI; before joining The Verge, covered the intersection of technology, finance, and economics)

October 7, 2023, 5:16 AM GMT+9

[Full Translation]

[Full Translation] The UK news world enters the new AI era! Partnering with companies to explore the future.

The BBC, as the UK's largest news organization, has outlined its principles for evaluating the use of generative AI in journalism research and production, archiving, and "personalized experiences."

In a blog post, BBC National Director Rhodri Talfan Davies stated that he believes this technology "presents opportunities to deliver further value to our audiences and society."

The three guiding principles are: the BBC will always act in the best interests of the public, will prioritize talent and creativity and respect artists' rights, and will be open and transparent about AI-generated outputs.

The BBC Said It Will Work with Technology Companies

The BBC said it will work with technology companies, other media organizations, and regulators to focus on developing generative AI safely and maintaining trust in the news industry.

"In the coming months, we will launch a number of projects exploring the use of generative AI both in what we make and how we work, taking a targeted approach to better understand both the opportunities and the risks," Davies said in the post. "These projects will evaluate how they can support, complement, or transform BBC activities across areas such as journalism research and production, content discovery and archiving, and personalized experiences."

The company did not specify these projects in an email to The Verge.

Other news organizations have also indicated their thinking on this technology. Associated Press published its own guidelines earlier this year. It also entered a partnership to share stories with OpenAI for training GPT models.

However, as the BBC Determines

However, as the BBC determines the best use of generative AI, it has blocked web crawlers from OpenAI and Common Crawl from accessing BBC websites. This brings it alongside other news organizations such as CNN, The New York Times, and Reuters in preventing web crawlers from accessing copyrighted material. Davies said this measure is "to protect the interests of license fee payers," adding that using BBC data to train AI models without permission is not in the public interest.

Reference: https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/6/23906645/bbc-generative-ai-news-openai?ref=futurepedia

This AI news is produced by the online assistant service "TIMEWELL."