Microsoft, OpenAI Are Spending Millions on News Outlets to Let Them Try Out AI Tools
DA Gadgets 
Microsoft
and
OpenAI,
in
collaboration
with
the
Lenfest
Institute
for
Journalism,
announced
an
AI
Collaborative
and
Fellowship
programme
on
Tuesday.
With
this
programme,
the
two
tech
giants
will
spend
upwards
of
$10
million
(roughly
Rs.
84.07
crores)
in
direct
funding
as
well
as
enterprise
credits
to
use
proprietary
software.
The
companies
highlighted
that
the
programme
was
aimed
at
increasing
the
adaptation
of
artificial
intelligence
(AI)
in
newsrooms.
As
many
as
five
news
outlets
have
been
announced
as
the
beneficiary
of
this
fellowship
programme.
Microsoft,
OpenAI
to
Fund
News
Outlets
In
a
blog
post, OpenAI
announced
the
fellowship
programme.
The
AI
firm
highlighted
that
it
is
partnering
with
Microsoft
and
the
Lenfest
Institute
of
Journalism
to
“help
newsrooms
explore
and
implement
ways
in
which
artificial
intelligence
can
help
drive
business
sustainability
and
innovation
in
local
journalism”.
The
funding
initiative,
titled
Lenfest
Institute
AI
Collaborative
and
Fellowship
programme,
has
finalised
five
news
outlets
which
will
receive
funding
in
the
initial
round.
As
per
the
post,
the
selected
news
outlets
include
Chicago
Public
Media,
Newsday
(Long
Island,
NY),
The
Minnesota
Star
Tribune,
The
Philadelphia
Inquirer,
and
The
Seattle
Times.
Each
of
them
will
receive
$2.5
million
(roughly
Rs.
21
crores)
in
direct
funding
and
another
$2.5
million
in
software
and
enterprise
credits,
for
a
total
of
up
to
$10
million.
This
will
be
a
two-year
programme
with
The
Lenfest
Institute’s
Local
Independent
News
Coalition
(LINC)
and
a
group
of
eight
metropolitan
news
organisations
in
the
US.
During
this
period,
the
news
organisations
will
collaborate
with
each
other
as
well
as
the
larger
industry
ecosystem
to
“share
learnings,
product
developments,
case
studies
and
technical
information
needed
to
help
replicate
their
work
in
other
newsrooms.”
Additionally,
three
more
news
organisations
will
be
awarded
funding
in
the
second
round
of
grants.
The
larger
goal
of
the
fellowship
programme
is
to
help
news
outlets
develop
the
capacity
to
use
AI
for
the
analysis
of
public
data,
build
news
and
visual
archives,
create
new
AI
tools
for
newsrooms,
and
more.
OpenAI
said
that
the
recipients
were
chosen
after
a
comprehensive
application
process.
