Gemini AI Scores Major Deal To Make It Better At Delivering News Than Apple Intelligence

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Hard facts can be a problem for generative AI bots like ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Despite being fed a glut of digital information, AIs sometimes hallucinate complete nonsense. Google has forged a new partnership with the Associated Press that could help make Gemini a font of supposedly accurate news.

Google says it has history with the AP, which has long provided a stream of news coverage for Google search. Some inside the company see AI-powered chatbots like Gemini as the future of search and news gathering, so the team-up makes sense. "We are pleased Google recognizes the value of AP's journalism as well as our commitment to nonpartisan reporting, in the development of its generative AI products," said AP Senior Vice President Kristin Heitmann.

Google is leaving a lot unsaid here. It has refused to elaborate on how AP content will be displayed in Google Gemini. Presumably, the deal allows Google to feed the AP's published content into its various AI models, giving them the ability to infer from and reformat the content written by human reporters.

The AP, employing its ironclad neutral reporting policies, noted that neither company has revealed how much Google will pay the Associated Press for access to this content. Google hasn't even provided details on whether or not the AP will be credited or get links in Gemini when its content forms the basis for an output.

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Google is not alone in its efforts to make generative AI a viable source of news and information. OpenAI announced a web search component of ChatGPT late last year, and it works with news organizations like the Financial Times and Axel Springer to integrate news coverage. Google has versions of Gemini in the works that will scour the web for you to do research and report back with results, but this is the first partnership announced with the explicit purpose of bringing accurate news to Gemini. Google also crams "AI Overviews" in at the top of search pages, which can provide a summary of the results, but it's unclear if the AP's content will help smarten up that feature.

The big players in AI have long pitched the technology as a boon to online journalism. On one hand, an AI licensing deal is another revenue stream for a news organization. On the other, it fosters the development of a search paradigm that limits clicks and traffic. For AI heavyweights like Google, it has the added bonus of shielding them from possible copyright infringement disputes, like the one still raging between OpenAI and the New York Times.