Unionized USA Today Co. workers took a coordinated lunch break to protest company executives’ irresponsible implementation of artificial intelligence in their newsrooms.
Under the banner of “No Slop in Our Shops,” TNG-CWA-represented workers demanded in part that USA Today Co. incorporate common-sense guardrails into its AI use.
Unionized workers took to social media to describe how the company (formerly Gannett) has assertively promoted AI use at their newspapers, endangering the fragile trust of readers who count on the human journalists to cover their communities.
“Recently, some AI tools, including video editing and SEO writing, have entered our newsroom.
If AI was simply a tool in a journalists’ toolkit…it would be a different conversation.
But it’s not. It’s taking away work from current and future journalists. It’s creating distrust between the community and its reporting. It’s being used as a weapon to cut costs and streamline productivity at the hinderance of good journalism.
I am standing with my Union and saying
NO AI SLOP IN OUR SHOP.”
@julianleshay
“AI isn’t out in the community, attending council meetings, holding government officials accountable, having real conversations with residents, working to understand what matters to each town and the people who live there.
Reporters and photojournalists do the work AI can never replace. We’re your neighbors voters and fellow taxpayers, out and about supporting local businesses, volunteering with nonprofits, experiencing wins and challenges alongside our readers. We know and understand our communities better than AI ever will.”
@michelechaddon
This action comes on the heels of USA Today Co. executives announcing the organization’s partnership with Palantir earlier this month. Members of The NewsGuild-CWA mobilized immediately, releasing a statement in which they condemned the partnership with a product known for its human rights abuses and raised alarms about how this development would affect the data security of their readers.
The statement read in part:
We have significant ethical issues with Palantir, whose artificial intelligence (A.I.) software has been used to advance widespread surveillance and power immigration crackdowns. Not only does partnering with Palantir, a major player in the news we cover, create an inherent conflict of interest, but it fails the journalists who have been assaulted and falsely arrested while covering immigration enforcement actions and protests.
TNG-CWA members remain determined to ensure the news they produce remains local, human, and union – they know their communities want news, not slop! Learn more about The NewsGuild-CWA’s demands surrounding AI use in newsrooms and keep up with the fight at newsnotslop.org.
Featured photo of unionized workers at the Columbus Dispatch