--- title: "New York Times Encourages Staff to Create Headlines Using AI" description: "The so-called \"paper of record\" is now encouraging staff to use generative AI tools to write headlines and summarize articles. " date: "2025-02-18" modified: "2025-02-18" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/new-york-times-ai-headlines" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai writing" - "headlines" - "Media" - "new york times" --- # New York Times Encourages Staff to Create Headlines Using AI ![The so-called "paper of record" is now encouraging staff to use generative AI tools to write headlines and summarize articles. ]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* The so-called "[paper of record]()" is now encouraging staff to use generative AI tools to write headlines and summarize articles. As [*Semafor* reports](), the *New York Times* recently informed employees that they now have a whole suite of AI tools at their disposal to write search headlines — the version of headlines that appear on search engines like Google — as well as code, social copy, quizzes, and more. Along with models from Google, Github, and Amazon, *NYT* staff will also have access to Echo, a bespoke tool currently in beta that's designed to condense articles into shorter summaries. It's unclear whether these tools are the same ones that the paper was experimenting with last year, when leaked data revealed that the *NYT* was [already using AI to write headlines](). "Generative AI can assist our journalists in uncovering the truth and helping more people understand the world," the newspaper's new editorial guidelines for AI read, per internal documentation shared with *Semafor*. Those new guidelines — which the paper refused to comment on when *Semafor*'s Max Tani asked for on-record confirmation — suggested that employees use the new suite of AI tools to make articles "tighter," write promoted social media posts, and summarize articles "in a concise, conversational voice" for newsletters. Despite those example use cases, and others shared with staff by the company, the guidelines also warn employees not to employ generative AI in article writing or revision, or when inputting copyrighted material from outside sources. Employees are also barred from using the technology to get around paywalls. For months, a small internal pilot group of journalists, designers, and machine-learning experts have been, per a [May 2024 announcement](), "charged with leveraging generative artificial intelligence" in the *NYT* newsroom. As Tani notes, this new suite of tools is the result of that effort. News of these updated AI guidelines and the introduction of this suite of tools also comes more than a year after the paper announced that it was [suing OpenAI]() and Microsoft for copyright infringement — a claim that the larger tech firm [scoffed at]() in counter-filings. Though that company's non-ChatGPT API will also be accessible to *NYT* staffers, they will only be able to use it with approval from the newspaper's legal department. Despite the cheery announcement, some of the paper's staff are less than thrilled about the higher-ups' full-throated endorsement of the technology. Employees at the *NYT* told *Semafor* that some of their colleagues may be reticent to use the technology because they're concerned it might inspire laziness or a lack of creativity — or, perhaps more importantly, result in the [sort of inaccuracies]() that generative AI has become known for. From the outside, it certainly sets an unsettling precedent for such a prestigious paper to be [embracing AI]() — nevermind the bizarre optics of the *NYT* leaning into the tech while it's [still locked in a legal battle]() with OpenAI. **More on AI and media:** [*Jonah Peretti, Who Filled BuzzFeed With AI Slop, Now Says AI Is Threatening Human Agency*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()