New York Times Tests AI Search Summaries for Readers, Drawing 22.5% Union Pay Demand
Updated
Updated · Semafor · Aug 23
New York Times Tests AI Search Summaries for Readers, Drawing 22.5% Union Pay Demand
3 articles · Updated · Semafor · Aug 23
Summary
A small subset of New York Times visitors is now seeing a new search page that answers queries with article excerpts, links and AI-generated summaries of Times reporting.
The test is the news division’s first use of reader-facing AI text without review by a Times journalist or editor, aimed at fixing a search product employees say has long lagged the paper’s other digital tools.
Times management had told the newsroom union in a July bargaining session that it would test AI summaries, and the rollout has fueled complaints that the company is sidestepping its own editorial standards on AI use.
The union wants contract guardrails including human oversight for AI output and a pool that would distribute 22.5% of AI training-licensing revenue to unionized employees.
The experiment shows the Times trying to catch up with AI search features spreading across media, while risking accuracy errors that could undercut its trust-based pitch to readers.