Unanimous approval of a three‑year contract by HuffPost Writers Guild of America East members Agreement includes AI content review, advanced deployment notice, and protection against impersonation Salary minimums increase by nearly 10%, with improved parental leave, sick leave, and professional development funds Members of the Writers Guild of America East at HuffPost have unanimously approved a new three-year contract that pairs wage gains with detailed guardrails on artificial intelligence. The agreement comes as a number of US newsrooms negotiate collective bargaining agreements and as AI becomes a flashpoint at the table. By securing enforceable rules on how generative tools are…

RAG combines retrieval and generative models to deliver up-to-date, accurate answers Structured data and schema markup boost content discoverability for AI systems SEO strategies are shifting towards fact clarity and entity prominence to favour AI-driven search answers Retrieval-Augmented Generation — or RAG — is changing how information is surfaced online. By pairing large language models with external data sources, it turns AI systems from static text predictors into tools that consult documents and databases before responding. For news publishers, that shift could redefine what it means to be discoverable. At its core, RAG combines a retrieval layer with a generative…

Portugal surpasses European average in AI tool usage with 62% adoption Trust in AI outputs is relatively high, influencing web behaviour and search habits Adoption in private sector is rising rapidly, but public sector integration remains slow Portugal is Europe’s most active adopter of generative artificial intelligence, with 62% of respondents using such tools regularly, well above the 52% European average of 52%, according to a new study by Bain & Company. The findings suggest a market moving quickly from experimentation to routine use, reshaping how consumers search for information and posing new challenges for publishers, brands and search-dependent businesses.…

New legislation aims to label AI-generated news content Mandates human review to ensure accuracy and standards Sparks debate over AI’s role and regulation in media Lawmakers in New York have proposed legislation that would force news organisations to be explicit when their reporting relies on artificial intelligence and to ensure human editors sign off on such material before it appears in print or online. Senator Patricia Fahy and Assemblywoman Nily Rozic introduced the New York Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Requirements in News Act, known as the NY FAIR News Act, on February 2, 2026. According to the Senate press release, the…

Symbolic.ai launches AI-native platform for News Corp newsrooms Early results show up to 90% productivity boost in research tasks The partnership signals a potential industry shift towards AI-driven journalism workflows Symbolic.ai, an artificial intelligence startup founded by former eBay chief executive Devin Wenig and Ars Technica co-founder Jon Stokes, has struck a commercial partnership with News Corp to deploy its AI-native publishing platform across the media group’s newsrooms, beginning with Dow Jones Newswires, the company said in announcements this week. The deal represents a significant enterprise deployment of newsroom-specific AI by one of the world’s largest media groups, one which…

Studies show that direct prompts can slightly improve LLM accuracy Cultural and language differences influence optimal prompt tone Clarity and specificity remain crucial for effective AI interactions The way users phrase their questions to AI chatbots could affect the accuracy of the answers they receive, according to new research that adds nuance to the emerging science of prompt engineering. A study entitled Mind Your Tone: Investigating How Prompt Politeness Affects LLM Accuracy tested 50 questions written in five tonal variations using ChatGPT-4o. The findings were unexpected: rude prompts slightly outperformed polite ones. On average, very polite requests achieved 80.8% accuracy,…

Musk launches Grokipedia, an AI-powered knowledge base challenging Wikipedia The platform offers real-time, conversational updates, blending AI and user oversight Debates intensify over AI accuracy, governance, and the future of online information Elon Musk has announced Grokipedia, an AI-powered encyclopedia intended to challenge Wikipedia’s dominance as the internet’s free knowledge hub. The project is part of Musk’s wider xAI venture and builds on the Grok platform integrated with X (formerly Twitter). Grokipedia aims to replace static, volunteer-edited pages with a dynamic, conversational database that updates continuously and incorporates community feedback. The project highlights a new fault line in the future…

The New York Times develops bespoke AI tools to enhance investigative reporting Internal tool “Cheat Sheet” streamlines complex data analysis for journalists The organisation balances AI innovation with ethical and legal considerations The New York Times has made significant strides in integrating artificial intelligence technology into its investigative journalism, enabling reporters to tackle complex investigations that would have been unfeasible just a few years ago. Under the leadership of Zach Seward, appointed as editorial director for AI initiatives in December 2023, the Times has developed bespoke AI tools that empower journalists to analyse vast volumes of video and textual data…

Gannett unveils DeeperDive, an AI tool replacing traditional search on USA Today The system provides factually accurate, source-cited answers from proprietary content Gannett aims to counter AI-driven traffic loss and explore new revenue opportunities Gannett, publisher of USA Today and more than 220 other titles, has rolled out DeeperDive, a generative AI answer engine designed to reshape how readers interact with its journalism. Unveiled by CEO Mike Reed at the WIRED AI Power Summit in New York, DeeperDive replaces the search bar on USA Today’s homepage with a conversational tool. It prompts readers with suggested questions — such as “How…

Reddit launches free beta tools for publishers to track and optimise content sharing AI-driven recommendations and integration with RSS streamline audience engagement Platform seeks to rival traditional news outlets as a hub for real-time discussion Reddit has introduced a new set of free tools for publishers, called Reddit Pro, in a bid to strengthen ties with news organisations and make it easier for them to engage with the platform’s users. The move represents a shift for Reddit, which has previously seemed lukewarm in its approach to working with publishers, even as its communities have become key spaces for news sharing…