The accord brings an end to a disagreement that had been going on for a long time and had caused Google to temporarily restrict news for some users in the state.
Following its previous opposition to a proposed law that would have mandated that it pay media outlets, Google has now secured an agreement with lawmakers in the state of California to provide funding for local journalism in the state. A fund that provides financial support to local news outlets and an artificial intelligence “accelerator program” in the state will both receive tens of millions of dollars from Google as part of the conditions of the agreement.
The California Journalism Preservation Act was a bill that would have required Google, Meta, and other huge platforms to pay California publishers in exchange for referring to their websites. The deal brings an end to a disagreement that had been going on between lawmakers and Google for several months. The bill, which was comparable to rules that were passed in Canada and Australia, was met with vehement opposition from Google.
In the beginning of this year, Google initiated a “short-term test” in the state of California, which resulted in the removal of links to local news for certain users in the state. In addition, the corporation cut back on some of the money it had been spending on domestic news in the state.
In accordance with the new deal, Google would now donate “at least $55 million” to “a nonprofit public charity housed at the journalism school at the University of California, Berkeley,” as reported by Politico. It is the responsibility of the institution to disperse the fund, which also includes “at least $70 million” from the state of California. In addition, Google has stated that it will “commit fifty million dollars over the course of five years to unspecified ‘existing journalism,'”
Additionally, financing for a “National AI Innovation Accelerator” is included in the settlement deal. Cal Matters claims that Google will contribute “at least $17.5 million” to the endeavor, which will fund artificial intelligence trials for local businesses and other organizations, including newsrooms. The specifics of that program are not apparent, but it is reported that Google will make this contribution. This component of the contract, which is so far exclusive to Google’s agreement in California, has the potential to become more contentious because it has the potential to intensify tensions that already exist between publishers and corporations that specialize in artificial intelligence.
In a statement, Kent Walker, the President of Global Affairs at Alphabet, attributed the deal to the “thoughtful leadership” of California Governor Gavin Newsom and other state authorities. Walker also applauded the fact that the agreement was reached. “In order to support local and national businesses as well as nonprofit organizations, California lawmakers have collaborated with the technology and news sectors to develop a collaborative framework,” he added. “This framework is intended to accelerate the innovation of artificial intelligence.” According to the statement, “This public-private partnership builds on our long history of working with journalism and the local news ecosystem in our home state, while simultaneously developing a national center of excellence on artificial intelligence policy.”