Chicago Tribune Union shares AI concerns

Adds to guild’s frustration with Alden Global Capital

You can add artificial intelligence, or AI, to the list of grievances Chicago Tribune employees have against their employer. 

In current contract negotiations with The Chicago Tribune Guild, Tribune Publishing parent Alden Global Capital is looking to reserve the right to use AI in its news stories for all of the papers it owns – including the Chicago Tribune. On Thursday, the guild – which represents journalists and photographers at the paper, is demanding Alden scrap the AI idea, saying it cannot replicate what actual human beings do and could reduce an already sparse newsroom even further. 

“This is an alarming proposal that would give a hedge fund known for gutting newsrooms the power to replace experienced journalists with cheap, unskilled labor, including non-human technology,” the Guild said in a statement. 

AI has been a major focus in the creative industry for the past two years, as it was a key factor in the WGA’s and SAG-AFTRA’s strikes against AMPTP last year. Last week, SAG-AFTRA went on strike against interactive companies (EA Sports, Activision, etc.) over AI and its use in video games.

“We think that what they’re proposing is very short-sided. It’s entirely unacceptable for us as reporters,” Tribune reporter Gregory Pratt told WGN-TV, a one-time Tribune sister property. “And as a union, we stand between Alden and destruction. We are there to stop them from decimating the paper.”

On Thursday, Tribune employees blitzed social media warning the paper would not cover Chicago and its suburbs accurately if Alden were able to use AI. 

Tribune Publishing and Alden had no comment. 

Since forming the union in 2018, the guild has yet to agree on a new contract with Alden, accusing them of “slow-walking contract negotiations,” as this latest issue has added to their continuing frustration with Alden. On January 31, the guild staged a one-day walkout over pay and benefits. 

The issue of AI is already becoming a hot-button topic – and a divisive political one as FCC Chairman Jessica Rosenwarcel is looking to add a disclaimer to political advertising for those who choose to use the technology in their ads on linear TV and terrestrial radio, over the objections of Republicans on Capitol Hill including fellow commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington. 

With the newsroom a mere fraction of what it was during the 1980s and 1990s, the Tribune’s plan to implement AI could have an impact on communities – especially those on the South Side and in the south suburbs, which is home to most of the Chicago area’s Black population. The south suburbs are already underserved, given how the Daily Southtown is run and could become the first of numerous suburban newspapers owned by the Tribune to transition entirely to an AI-generated content model. 

Worse, we may see more articles written with inaccurate information – a longtime problem as most Chicago media outlets struggle with not knowing where numerous South Side neighborhoods are located, something this site has complained about since it existed.