Publication houses are growing increasingly wary about the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on their businesses, the Wall Street Journal reported. The big media houses plan to join hands to create a coalition that might advance their issues forward and introduce a law that would regulate the use of their editorial content. At the forefront of the coalition are listed players, including the New York Times (NYSE:NYT), News Corp. (NYSE:NWSA), IAC/Interactive Corp. (NYSE:IAC), and some private media houses such as Vox Media, Advance, and Axel Springer.
Media Houses’ Issues with AI Tools
Media houses are complaining that their articles and editorial content are being used to train large language models (LLMs) to create applications like ChatGPT. What’s worse, there is no reference to the source articles when these applications answer consumers’ queries on the internet. Further, they are not rewarded for the use of their content. Publication houses worry that their intellectual property is at risk due to the increasing popularity of chatbots.
Moreover, journalists worry that their careers are at stake as AI is taking over every industry, and content writing is one of the most vulnerable to AI’s development. Although a coalition has not yet formed, it is one of the rare occasions where rival publications come together for a common cause. Recently, even AI experts have raised concern about the fast-paced developments, which, according to some, pose an existential threat to the human race.
Commenting on the issue, News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson recently said, “Firstly, our content is being harvested and scraped and otherwise ingested to train AI engines. Secondly, individual stories will be surfaced in specific searches. And, thirdly, our content will be synthesized and presented as distinct when it is actually an extracting of editorial essence.”
What is the Price Target for NWSA Stock?
On TipRanks, the average News Corp. price target is $25.50, which implies 30.6% upside potential from current levels. The stock has a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on two Buy ratings. Meanwhile, NWSA stock has gained 7.4% year-to-date.
