Akron Beacon Journal journalists protest AI tool
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Journalists at the Akron Beacon Journal are withholding their bylines for two weeks to protest an AI tool they say is generating false information and undermining their reporting.
Why it matters: The labor action illustrates growing tensions between journalists and corporate publishers over the use of artificial intelligence in newsrooms.
Driving the news: Members of the Northeast Ohio NewsGuild began withholding their bylines in late October after USA Today Co. introduced DeeperDive, an AI-powered audience engagement tool featuring article summaries, bullet-point takeaways and a chatbot-style search function.
What they're saying: "The overall aim is to get corporate to understand our concerns about how forward-facing AI tools affect us as journalists," ABJ reporter and Guild spokesperson Bryce Buyakie tells Axios.
- Buyakie says the tool has fabricated information across USA Today sites, including errors absent from original reporting and others that persisted even after corrections.
- "In one egregious case in October," notes a NewsGuild statement, "DeeperDive substituted the name of a murder suspect with the reporter covering the case."
State of play: USA Today Co. has subsequently suspended DeeperDive's AI summaries and restricted its availability to only a small portion of readers for beta testing, Buyakie says.
- The Guild filed a grievance Friday challenging the company's decision to restore bylines and is continuing its protest.
The other side: USA Today Co. has not responded to an Axios request for comment.
- In correspondence obtained by Axios, USA Today Co. VP of labor relations Amy Garrard told the NewsGuild the action constituted an "illegal byline strike," saying the AI summaries had already been paused.
Between the lines: The Guild's contract permits employees to withhold bylines over journalistic integrity concerns, but prohibits coordinated byline strikes for other reasons.
- Garrard told the NewsGuild its objections did not qualify as legitimate journalistic integrity concerns.