AP Staff Divided Over AI Integration in Journalism as Resistance Declared 'Futile'

Michel Porro/Getty Images.css-1dtnjt5{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;-webkit-box-flex-wrap:wrap;-webkit-flex-wrap:wrap;-ms-flex-wrap:wrap;flex-wrap:wrap;}.css-1hu9vey{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;gap:4px;padding:10px;-webkit-box-flex-wrap:nowrap;-webkit-flex-wrap:nowrap;-ms-flex-wrap:nowrap;flex-wrap:nowrap;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:0.8125rem;line-height:120%;color:#53524c;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}.css-1hu9vey:hover{cursor:pointer;}PostEmailWhatsapp.css-6hf1pk{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;gap:4px;padding:10px;-webkit-box-flex-wrap:nowrap;-webkit-flex-wrap:nowrap;-ms-flex-wrap:nowrap;flex-wrap:nowrap;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:0.8125rem;line-height:120%;color:#53524c;background:none;border:none;}.css-6hf1pk:hover{cursor:pointer;}.css-h3t4g5{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-align-content:center;-ms-flex-line-pack:center;align-content:center;gap:4px;}Copy linkSign up for Semafor Media: Media’s essential read. Read it now. One of The Associated Press’ leaders on AI had a blunt message for the publication’s staff: Resistance to AI is “futile.” Last month, the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s editor wrote that a recent job applicant withdrew from consideration for a reporting fellowship after discovering the position included filing notes to an AI writing tool instead of actually writing stories, touching off a heated debate in media circles. One AP higher-up crystallized many media managers’ views on the debate: “Because local newsrooms are so strapped, they are turning for assistance on the news making process in every direction. Advance Publications got there first, others will follow,” AP Senior Product Manager for AI Aimee Rinehart wrote in internal company Slack messages first shared with Semafor, referring to the Plain Dealer’s parent company. “Resistance is futile.” Rinehart, who oversees the wire service’s AI initiatives, suggested that in the future, reporters could go to events, get quotes, plug them into a large language model, and have the model generate a story, saving them time on writing stories they don’t feel passionately about. She also noted that some editors told her that they would “prefer to have reporters report and have articles at least pre-written by AI.” “There are many — and I mean MANY — editors who would prefer an AI-written article to a human-written one. Reporting and writing are two different skill sets and rare — RARE — is the occasion when it’s wrapped into one person,” she wrote. One AP reporter said in a message that the “dismissiveness and disdain some of you have shown for human writing are insulting and abhorrent. Strong reporting and clear writing are the lifeblood of journalism, not AI-written slop. AI may be inevitable, but denigrating the work of colleagues who write for a living without whom there would be no AP, is disgraceful.” Another staffer said it is “hard not to escape the feeling that the people hyping/guiding the decisions around these powerful tools exist in a totally different reality than the people who wake up every day and do the work of reporting.” “This internal discussion among staffers from different departments doesn’t reflect the overall position of the AP regarding the use of AI,” the AP told Semafor in a statement. “We’ve been an industry leader in setting AI standards that safeguard the vital role of journalists, while also allowing for AI use for things like language translation, summarizations, transcriptions and content tagging.” The tensions inside the AP — and Rinehart’s articulation of a case many managers believe but are reluctant to make — reveal a broader conflict playing out across the media over how AI should be applied within journalism, a costly craft filled with strong-willed individuals. Many (though notably not all) media companies have cut deals with AI giants to license their content, arguing that they would rather be compensated for their work than let it be scraped for free, and want to provide the models with quality information rather than digital garbage. Within newsrooms themselves, media companies are rushing to adopt tools many of their employees are wary of using. Most rank-and-file journalists, like many other white-collar workers, view AI tools with deep suspicion and see their adoption as potential (or inevitable) threat to their livelihoods. Among newsroom and media leaders, the feeling is friendlier. Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner told me onstage last week at Semafor’s Trust in Media event that he was confident in the media busine