• by Ray Schultz , January 10, 2024

Journalism is in jeopardy unless publishers are fairly compensated for use of their content by generative AI companies, Roger Lynch, CEO of Condé Nast, argued in Congressional testimony on Wednesday.  

Speaking before the the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, Lynch said, “We urge Congress to take immediate action to clarify that the use of publisher content for both Gen AI training and their output must be licensed and compensated.” 

Describing his own firm, Lynch noted, “Our mission is to produce culture-defining exceptional journalism and creative content. This purpose is evident in our output, output that only humans can make, together with rigorous standards and fact checking.” 

Lynch conceded that Gen AI is “already demonstrating tremendous potential to make the world a better place.”  

But he added that “Gen AI cannot replace journalism. Journalism is fundamentally human pursuit, and it plays an essential and irreplaceable role in our society and our democracy.” 

He continued, “It takes reporters with grit integrity ambition and human creativity to develop the stories that allow free markets, free speech and freedom itself to thrive."

Lynch added that it is a “false analogy” to say that Gen AI systems are using content for learning purposes. 

“They do not learn like humans do, they maintain complete copies of the content they use, and are training consumers to come to them for information, not to us.”  

Gen AI tools “are built with stolen goods,” he charged. 

Moreover, Gen AI enables misinformation on an unprecedented scale, Lynch said. "They hallucinate and generate mistatements that are sometimes attributed to real publications like ours, damaging our brands.”

Lynch acknowledged that the time and cost of trying to fight the tech giants could put many firms out of business.  

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)  offered this solution: 

“When you look at what's happened with newspaper advertising revenue….from 2008 to 2020, it went down from $37 billion to $9 billion,” she said. “I am very concerned that these trends will only worsen with the rise of generative AI. That is why [we need] the bill that Senator Kennedy and I have led for years, the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act.”

“For years the tech platforms have gotten away with using publishers’ content without appropriate compensation," said Danielle Coffey, president & CEO of News/Media Alliance. "This problem, having gone unaddressed, has been getting worse and now, AI doubles down on the threat the largest tech platforms pose to publishers’ viability."