Gannett, the media company that owns numerous newspapers across the US, is introducing a new feature that incorporates AI-generated bullet points at the top of journalists’ articles, according to an internal memo obtained by The Verge.
Labeled as “key points,” this AI feature generates automated summaries that appear below the headline of a story. At the bottom of the articles, there is a disclaimer stating, “The Key Points at the top of this article were created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and reviewed by a journalist before publication. No other parts of the article were generated using AI.” Dated May 14th, the memo mentions that participation in this program is currently optional.
These AI-generated summaries are already visible on some USA Today articles online (Gannett owns USA Today). The memo claims that this new feature is designed to “enhance the reporting process and elevate the audience experience.” The AI model behind this tool was developed in-house over a period of nine months.
“The document speaks for itself,” said Gannett spokesperson Lark-Marie Anton in an email.
Gannett has previously experimented with AI-generated content, only to retract it after notable errors. Last August, the company discontinued AI-generated sports recaps following reader ridicule over awkward phrasing. In October, staff at Gannett’s consumer products site, Reviewed, alleged that some online content was produced using AI. As reported last year, the third-party marketing firm responsible for this was also implicated in the Sports Illustrated AI controversy, where AI-generated authors were falsely credited as writers. At that time, Gannett denied that the product reviews were created using AI tools.
The introduction of AI-generated summaries comes amid concerns from local union members about proposed contract terms related to AI usage. According to Digiday, unionized workers at the Democrat & Chronicle in Rochester, New York, were troubled by a bargaining clause that stated, “Artificial intelligence (AI) may be used to generate news content.”
AI-generated summaries on news articles reflect broader trends in search platforms: at the recent Google I/O developer conference, Google showcased how AI would integrate into Search, including AI-generated answers at the top of results pages. Even TikTok is testing AI-generated “overviews” in search results. Elevating AI-generated content—trained on human-created material—above actual websites and links could harm publishers by reducing traffic, as users may opt for AI summaries instead of clicking through to the source material.
Anton did not address The Verge’s questions about whether AI summaries might deter readers from engaging with the full articles.
