Business Insider tests AI-generated news stories with human oversight

Business Insider is preparing to launch AI-generated news stories on its website, with a new “Business Insider AI” author page already created for testing purposes. The move represents the latest effort by parent company Axel Springer to integrate artificial intelligence across its newsrooms, following CEO Mathias Döpfner’s directive for all employees to incorporate AI tools into their work.

What you should know: The AI byline will use generative AI tools to draft news stories that are then edited by human staff members for quality, accuracy, and fairness.

• Business Insider is currently testing the AI byline but hasn’t published any stories using it yet, according to a company spokesperson.
• The company’s website states that newsroom staff can use “approved AI tools to assist with drafting, transcription, research, data analysis, fact-checking and more.”
• Human staffers remain responsible for ensuring accuracy and fairness when AI tools are used, and their use is always labeled on the site.

The bigger picture: Axel Springer, the German media conglomerate that also owns Politico, has been aggressively pushing AI adoption across its properties.

• CEO Mathias Döpfner ordered every employee to use AI in some capacity over the summer, according to Status newsletter reporting.
• At Business Insider, editors have told staff they can use ChatGPT to write their first drafts.

Industry context: Business Insider wouldn’t be the first major news outlet to publish AI-authored content.

• Fortune magazine uses generative AI called “Fortune Intelligence” to create articles that are then edited by business editors.
• Bloomberg has started publishing AI-generated bullet-point summaries at the top of news articles to help financial professionals “save time through the efficient discovery of relevant and timely information.”

What they’re saying: “The Business Insider AI byline uses generative AI tools to draft news stories so we can bring readers more information, more quickly,” the author page states.

• Bloomberg described its AI summary feature as designed to “help financial professionals and corporate executives save time” and “better decide which stories to read in depth.”