Management and Politico's newsroom are preparing for a legal dispute concerning the implementation of artificial intelligence.
Politico and its union, the PEN Guild, are set to dispute alleged breaches of their AI clause in the contract. The union is claiming that the media outlet introduced AI technology without adhering to the agreed-upon 60-day notice before significant job impact, as stipulated in their collective bargaining agreement [1][2][5].
Last year, Politico published AI-powered live news summaries during major political events, such as the Democratic National Convention and the U.S. Vice Presidential debates. In March, they launched a suite of AI tools called Policy Intelligence Assistance for paying subscribers, a partnership with Capitol AI [3]. Rachel Loeffler, Politico's executive, described the initiative as seamlessly integrating generative AI with their unmatched policy expertise at the time [3].
Now, union members allege these tools have contravened the contract in several ways and will take the disagreement to arbitration this July [1]. Ariel Wittenberg, PEN union chair and E&E News public health reporter, stated that the company failed to provide the required notice or an opportunity for fair negotiations over the AI rollout [2][5]. The union further claims that the tools perform duties traditionally handled by human staff.
"This isn't just a contract dispute; it's a test of whether journalists have a say in how AI is used in our work. With no federal regulations in place, union contracts remain one of the only enforceable frameworks for AI accountability on a national scale," explained Jon Schleuss, Newsguild president [5]. PEN Guild is a unit within Newsguild, one of the most prominent journalist unions.
Politico asserts that they respect their contractual obligations and will continue to honor them while embracing AI technologies [1][5]. Arianna Skibell, the union's vice chair for contract enforcement who writes Politico's energy industry newsletter, questioned whether there's always appropriate human oversight over the AI content Politico publishes [4]. In one case, an AI-generated live summary used inappropriate language regarding immigration, publishing phrases such as "criminal migrants" during the Vice Presidential debates [4]. Additionally, Skibell alleged that the AI inserted factual errors into the content published that night [4].
Wittenberg claimed that Politico did not follow the usual approval processes when taking down AI-generated live summaries with errors, as opposed to articles written by human reporters [4]. Politico did not comment on the specifics of the union's allegations [4].
- The PEN Guild, in conjunction with Politico, is set to dispute breaches of their AI clause in the contract, claiming that the media outlet introduced AI technology without providing the stipulated 60-day notice before significant job impact.
- Jon Schleuss, Newsguild president, explained that this dispute with Politico is not just a contract issue; it's a test of whether journalists have a say in how AI is used in their work, given the lack of federal regulations in place.
- Arianna Skibell, the union's vice chair for contract enforcement and writer of Politico's energy industry newsletter, questioned whether there's always appropriate human oversight over the AI content Politico publishes, citing an instance where an AI-generated live summary used inappropriate language regarding immigration.
- In addition to the inappropriate language, Skibell alleged that the AI inserted factual errors into the content published that night, and further criticized Politico for not following the usual approval processes when taking down AI-generated live summaries with errors, as opposed to articles written by human reporters.
