The New York Times has reportedly given the green light for its newsroom staff to use artificial intelligence tools for tasks like editing, summarizing, coding, and writing theverge reports.
According to Semafor, an internal email announced that product and editorial teams will receive AI training, and a new in-house tool called Echo has been introduced to help summarize articles, briefings, and other company activities.
Staff members were also provided with updated editorial guidelines outlining how Echo and other AI tools can be used. These tools are meant to assist in editing, generating summaries, creating social media captions, and crafting SEO-friendly headlines.
A training video shared with employees showcased other AI-powered tasks, such as developing news quizzes, quote cards, FAQs, and even suggesting interview questions for reporters speaking with startup CEOs. However, there are strict limitations—AI cannot be used to write or heavily modify articles, bypass paywalls, use copyrighted third-party materials, or publish AI-generated images and videos without clear labeling.
It remains unclear how much AI-edited content The Times will allow in its published stories. The organization has consistently emphasized that its journalism will always be reported, written, and edited by human journalists. In a memo last year, The Times assured readers that while AI might assist in some parts of the process, human oversight is crucial. Its AI guidelines, adopted in May 2024, reinforce that every report must be fact-checked by journalists and reviewed by editors before publication.
In addition to Echo, The Times has approved the use of several other AI tools, including GitHub Copilot for coding, Google Vertex AI for product development, NotebookLM, the NYT’s ChatExplorer, OpenAI’s non-ChatGPT API, and some Amazon AI products.
This AI rollout comes as The Times continues its legal battle with OpenAI
