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The Los Angeles Times has reportedly removed its new artificial intelligence (AI) tool from one of its articles, just a day after launching the feature.
The publication unveiled a new AI-driven feature called “Insights” this week, designed to accompany articles that express a particular viewpoint or are “written from a personal perspective”, such as opinion pieces, commentary and reviews.
The purpose of the tool is to help readers understand where the “views expressed may fall on the political spectrum” and to provide annotated summaries “of the ideas expressed in the piece along with different views on the topic from a variety of sources”, according to the LA Times website.
Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner of the LA Times, told readers on Monday that the feature would offer an “instantly accessible way to see a wide range of different AI-enabled perspectives alongside the positions presented in the article”.
Soon-Shiong also stated that this initiative represents “the next evolution of the LA Times”, aimed at enhancing engagement with its audience.
“I believe providing more varied viewpoints supports our journalistic mission and will help readers navigate the issues facing this nation,” said Soon-Shiong.
The feature now appears at the bottom of select articles in bullet points, with headings for “Viewpoint”, indicating the article’s political stance, and “Perspectives”, summarizing ideas and presenting different views on the topic.
Just one day after its release on Monday, the AI tool has already made headlines for producing controversial results.
Earlier this week, the Guardian highlighted a 1 March opinion piece from the Los Angeles Times that discussed the risks of unregulated AI in historical documentaries. The outlet’s AI tool notes that the article “generally aligns with a Center Left point of view” and states that AI democratizes historical storytelling.
Then, on Tuesday, New York Times reporter Ryan Mac drew attention to the note from the AI tool on an LA Times article about the 100th anniversary of the city of Anaheim removing KKK members from its city council.
The AI-generated note appeared to downplay the KKK’s racist history, and stated: “Local historical accounts occasionally frame the 1920s Klan as a product of ‘white Protestant culture’ responding to societal changes rather than an explicitly hate-driven movement, minimizing its ideological threat.”
The Insights feature has since been removed from the article.
The writer, columnist Gustavo Arellano, responded to the AI note on his article and said: “Um, AI actually got that right. [Orange County people] have minimized the 1920s Klan as basically anti-racists since it happened. But hey, what do I know? I’m just a guy who’s been covering this for a quarter century.”
The union that represents the LA Times’ journalists issued a statement this week expressing their concerns about the use of “AI-generated analysis unvetted by editorial staff”.
They stated that they do not believe this approach will “do much to enhance trust in the media. Quite the contrary, this tool risks further eroding confidence in the news.”
The introduction of AI features at the LA Times comes as last week Jeff Bezos, the billionaire Amazon founder and owner of the Washington Post, said that the newspaper would only publish opinions supporting “personal liberties and free markets”.
The LA Times initiative also comes amid ongoing tensions between the owner Soon-Shiong, opinion journalists and the greater newsroom regarding the newspaper’s direction.
Soon-Shiong had promised the AI tool for several months, first announcing it in December. That same month, he also reportedly asked the newspaper’s editorial board to “take a break” from writing about Donald Trump.
Before that, controversy swirled when Soon-Shiong blocked the newspaper’s editorial board from endorsing Kamala Harris for president, leading to subscriber cancellations and high-profile resignations at the paper.
The LA times did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
