The BBC, the UK’s largest news organization, released its principles for evaluating the use of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI), including research and production for news, archives and “personalized experiences”.
BBC national affairs director Rhodri Talfan-Davies said in a blog post that the broadcaster believed that AI technology provided opportunities to “bring more value to our viewers and society.”
He set out three guiding principles: the BBC will always act in the best interests of the public, prioritize talent and creativity by respecting the rights of artists, and remain open and transparent about AI-generated content.
The BBC said it would work with technology companies, other media organizations and regulators to develop generative AI safely and focus on maintaining trust in the news industry.
However, web crawlers such as OpenAI and Common Crawl are being blocked from accessing the BBC website while the BBC determines how best to use generative AI. The broadcaster joins CNN, The New York Times, Reuters and other news organizations in blocking web crawlers from accessing their copyrighted content. Davies said the move was to “safeguard the interests of license fee payers” and that training AI models on BBC data without the BBC’s permission was not in the public interest.
News organizations also expressed their views on this technology. The Associated Press, which published its own guidelines earlier this year, has also partnered with OpenAI to share its content to train GPT models.
