Google partners with LSE think tank for Journalism AI project

Internet giant Google has partnered with Polis, the international journalism think-tank at London School of Economics and Political Science, to create Journalism AI.

The new programme, which falls under the Google News Initiative, will help scribes in research and training in newsrooms and will focus on the intersection of artificial intelligence and journalism, the internet giant said in a blog post.

As part of the programme, the company will release a survey next year showcasing how media organisations were currently using AI and would also advise these organisations how they can further exploit the emerging technology for faster and accurate storytelling or reporting.

“We’ll also collaborate with newsrooms and academic institutions to create a best practices handbook and produce free online training on how to use AI in the newsroom for journalists worldwide," Matt Cooke, head of partnerships and training, Google News Lab, said in the blog post.

The company also said that it will help organisations use Google Earth to devise new ways of pushing out content.

“After testing with partners over the last two years, we’re introducing a new tool called Google Earth Studio, which is an animation tool for Google Earth’s satellite and 3D imagery," Cooke said, adding that the tool can be used by graphic designers.

The internet giant also said that it was making available a journalism handbook, which was part of its partnership with the European Journalism Centre last year.

Cooke said that Google in the last four years has provided free training to journalists, reaching more than 140,000 people in-person.

“We’ll continue these workshops, but to make them accessible to more people, we’re revamping our free online Training Centre. Our trainings on Google tools for journalists are now available in 16 languages—including Indonesian Bahasa, Thai and Turkish. We’ve also added an optional sign-in feature to help you track your own progress," he said.