AI Research: California announces new deal with tech company to fund AI journalism and research

Under the first-in-the-nation deal, the state and tech companies would together pay about $250 million over five years to support a California-based news organization and build an artificial intelligence research program. The initiatives would launch in 2025 with $100 million in the first year, with the bulk of the money going to news organizations, said Democratic Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, who negotiated the deal.

“This agreement represents a major step forward in ensuring the survival of newsrooms and strengthening local journalism across California, leveraging significant resources from the tech industry without imposing new taxes on Californians,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “The agreement not only provides funds “Not only does it support hundreds of new journalists, it also helps rebuild a strong and dynamic California press corps for years to come, reinforcing the vital role of journalism in our democracy.”

Wicks’ office did not immediately respond to questions about specifics on how much funding would come from the state, which news organizations would be eligible and how much money would go toward the AI ​​research program.

The agreement effectively marks the end of a year-long fight between tech giants and lawmakers over Wicks’ proposal to require companies like GoogleFacebook and Microsoft pay a certain percentage of advertising revenue to media companies to include links to their content.

The bill, modeled after a Canadian law that sought to provide financial aid to local news organizations, faced intense backlash from the tech industry, which launched ads over the summer attacking the bill. Google also attempted to pressure lawmakers to drop the bill by temporarily removing news websites from some people’s search results in April.

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“This partnership represents a cross-sector commitment to support a free and vibrant press, empowering local media outlets across the state to continue their essential work,” Wicks said in a statement. “This is just the beginning.” California has tried different ways to stem the loss of journalism jobs, which have been disappearing rapidly as traditional media companies have struggled to turn a profit in the digital age. More than 2,500 newspapers have closed in the U.S. since 2005, according to Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. California has lost more than 100 news organizations in the past decade, according to Wicks’ office.

Wednesday’s agreement has the support of the California News Publishers Association, which represents more than 700 news organizations, Google parent company Alphabet, and OpenAI. But journalists, including those with the Media Guild of the West, criticized the deal, saying it would hurt California news organizations.

State Sen. Steve Glazer, who authored a bill to give news organizations a tax credit for hiring full-time journalists, said the deal “seriously undermines our work toward a long-term solution to rescue independent journalism.”

State Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire also said the deal does not go far enough to address California’s plight.

“Newspaper newsrooms have been hollowed out across the state while tech platforms have raked in multimillion-dollar profits,” she said in a statement. “We are concerned that this proposal underfunds local newspapers and outlets and fails to fully address the inequities facing the industry.”