Newsletter
We’ve seen the chilling headlines: “Another company laid off a huge chunk of its staff and started using AI instead”. This is the sad reality that we have to face, but there’s hope out there. Several news outlets and media companies are actually blocking OpenAI’s ChatGPT from accessing the information on their sites.
This news comes from CNN, and CNN’s Oliver Darcy described this accurately as a Cold War. It makes sense; there’s a lot of tension hovering around AI and the potential future. AI companies are building up their arsenal of potentially deadly weapons, and those opposed are mounting their defense.
Major news outlets are blocking ChatGPT
It’s reassuring to know that not all companies are all in on this new AI revolution. Notable news outlets such as CNN, Insider, The New York Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, ESPN, Axios, ABC News, The Gothamist, and The Atlantic have blocked ChatGPT’s crawlers from accessing their content. This also includes publishers such as Vox Media, Condé Nast, and Hearst.
The list doesn’t stop there. Disney is also opposed to ChatGPT accessing its content. This shows that there’s a long list of companies that are on the offense against ChatGPT and the like.
It’s a matter of morality and legality
Danielle Coffeey, President and chief executive of the News Media Alliance spoke about why these companies are resistant to forking over their content. It’s not only because generative AI proves to be a threat to the news industry. Long-standing news outlets “are on solid legal ground when it comes to copyright protections.”
Of course, if you’re a major news organization, and you’ve put out groundbreaking news stories, you’d want to protect your content. Generative AI does threaten to put writers out of their jobs. It’d be a pretty sour blow to end up training the very AI that’s threatening jobs for writers.
At this moment, we’re not sure about what will happen next as AI progresses. However, it’s nice to know that not everyone purchased a ticket to the AI hype train.