Google says its artificial intelligence chatbot Gemini will deliver up-to-date news from The Associated Press in the tech giant's first such deal with a news publisher. Google announced the deal in a blog post Wednesday, saying that AP “will now deliver a feed of real-time information to help further enhance the usefulness of results displayed in the Gemini app.” AP's chief revenue officer, Kristin Heitmann, said it is part of a longstanding relationship with the search giant “based on working together to provide timely, accurate news and information to global audiences.” "We are pleased Google recognizes the value of AP’s journalism as well as our commitment to nonpartisan reporting, in the development of its generative AI products,” Heitmann said in a written statement. Neither company has disclosed how much Google will pay AP for the content. Google declined further comment on how it would present information from AP’s journalism and whether it would credit the news organization or link back to the original articles. Gemini, formerly known as Bard, has been Google's answer to the demand for generative AI tools that can compose documents, generate images, help program code or perform other work. AP has sought to diversify its revenue stream in recent years and in 2023 signed a deal with OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, enabling the AI company to license AP's archive of news stories to train future versions of its AI systems. The financial terms of that deal were also not disclosed, but it sparked an increasing number of similar partnerships between OpenAI and news organizations around the world. At the same time, news organizations have expressed concerns about AI companies using their material without permission — or payment — and then unfairly competing with them for advertising revenue that comes when people use a search engine or click on a news website. The New York Times and other outlets have sued OpenAI and other AI companies for copyright infringement and, on Tuesday, presented their arguments before a New York federal judge. Tech companies have argued that freely taking publicly available text from the internet to teach their AI models constitutes a “fair use” under U.S. copyright laws. But faced with legal challenges and a technology that is prone to spouting errors known as hallucinations, AI companies have also sought to license high-quality data sources to improve the performance of their products. Read: Trump adviser says president-elect exploring options to 'preserve' TikTok Publishers are at a disadvantage as tech companies integrate AI-generated summaries of information into an array of online services, but such deals are also beneficial in giving news outlets much-needed revenue and improving the overall quality of information that people are seeing online, said Alex Mahadevan, director of The Poynter Institute’s Mediawise, a digital media literacy initiative.   “You either sign a deal with an AI company and work with them and kind of take what they offer for all of your hard work, all of your articles, all of your data, or you fight, the way that The New York Times and others are trying to do in court,” he said. The AP prides itself on being an unbiased news source and offers news stories, pictures, video, audio and interactive content direct to consumers via the website APNews.com. But the bulk of its business comes from selling its journalism to organizations that use it. The AP has experienced a precipitous loss in revenue from newspaper customers, including losing Gannett and McClatchy -- two of the largest traditional U.S. newspaper publishers -- last year. The AP has increasingly secured other sources of revenue, including philanthropic funding, but is still hurt by the news industry’s overall woes. “The AP has copious amounts of data and text, which are the equivalent of gold in terms of training advanced generative AI models,” said Sarah Kreps, a professor and director of Cornell University's Tech Policy Institute. While such deals might help offset some revenue losses, they also present dangers. Read more: Biden’s semiconductor law to boost US chip output at high cost, says report “By outsourcing their value to tech companies, news outlets may cede control over how their work is used and monetized,” Kreps said by email. “Instead of building stronger, direct relationships with readers, they risk becoming suppliers of raw material for platforms that then commodify and repurpose their journalism.”

An active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force was critically injured Sunday after setting himself ablaze outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., while declaring that he “will no longer be complicit in genocide,” a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The man, whose name wasn’t immediately released, walked up to the embassy shortly before 1 p.m. and began livestreaming on the video streaming platform Twitch, the person said. Law enforcement officials believe the man started a livestream, set his phone down and then doused himself in accelerant and ignited the flames. At one point, he said he “will no longer be complicit in genocide,” the person said. The video was later removed from the platform, but law enforcement officials have obtained and reviewed a copy. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. Police did not immediately provide any additional details about the incident. Read: Israel vows to target Lebanon's Hezbollah even if cease-fire reached with Hamas in Gaza The incident happened as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking the cabinet approval for a military operation in the southern Gazan city of Rafah while a temporary cease-fire deal is being negotiated. Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, however, has drawn criticisms, including genocide claims against the Palestinians. Israel has adamantly denied the genocide allegations and says it is carrying out operations in accordance with international law in the Israel-Hamas war. In December, a person self-immolated outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta and used gasoline as an accelerant, according to Atlanta’s fire authorities. A Palestinian flag was found at the scene, and the act was believed to be one of “extreme political protest.” Read: Israeli officials to meet on a proposed pause in Gaza while the Cabinet is set to OK a Rafah plan In a statement, the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington said its officers had responded to the scene outside the Israeli Embassy to assist U.S. Secret Service officers and that its bomb squad had also been called to examine a suspicious vehicle. Police said no hazardous materials were found in the vehicle. Also read: Netanyahu seeks open-ended control over security and civilian affairs in Gaza in new postwar plan

New York, Aug 4 (AP/UNB) — The Associated Press appointed Daisy Veerasingham, its executive vice president and chief operating officer, as the news cooperative’s president and CEO on Tuesday, setting her up to replace the retiring Gary Pruitt at the beginning of next year. She will become the first woman, first person of color and first person from outside of the United States to lead the AP in its 175-year history. Veerasingham, 51, is a first-generation Briton of Sri Lankan descent. Her appointment speaks to the changing portrait of the AP, where 40% of the company’s revenue, double what it was 15 years ago, is now generated outside of the United States. She’ll be tasked with continuing to diversify income sources. The AP, caught in the same financial vise as most of the media industry, saw its revenue drop to $467 million in 2020, down more than 25% in a decade. Veerasingham said she’s determined to maintain the AP as a source of fact-based, nonpartisan journalism, and to fight for freedom of the press and access to information. The AP produces roughly 2,000 news stories, 3,000 photos and 200 videos every day, reaching more than half the world’s population. READ: Unilever Bangladesh appoints Zaved Akhtar as CEO, MD  As its core business of selling news to newspapers and broadcasters began shrinking, the AP has broadened its licensing efforts to other areas, like business and academia. It has also built a business licensing old photos and video, the latter through the purchase of a company that owned old movie newsreels. AP also makes money by providing studio space and news equipment to organizations, selling news software and election vote-counting and surveys. Further diversification efforts are underway, including offering customized news reports and managing video for auctions held by companies like Sotheby’s, Veerasingham said. “The AP is probably on the most solid footing it’s been on for a very long time,” she said. “I don’t think the world needs to worry about the future of The Associated Press. Do we have challenges ahead? Yeah, we’ve got to diversify our revenue and we’ve got to stabilize revenue in our core. But I think that is something we can actually do in the next three years because of the financial strength we’ve built.” READ: WHO Foundation appoints Anil Soni as CEO   Like many other companies, AP is expected to head back to offices in the next few months, although a hybrid approach that includes working from home will be in place at the start. One of the things working through the pandemic taught her about AP “is that we are capable of much more than we thought we were,” she said. Veerasingham worked in marketing jobs at LexisNexis and the Financial Times before joining AP. A trained lawyer, she has not worked as a journalist. READ: UK appoints Champion to support developing countries to deal with climate change Upon retirement, Pruitt said he planned to split time between California and New York, and looks forward to taking classes at the University of California-San Diego.

Farid Hossain, the immediate past Minister (Press) at Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi and former Dhaka Bureau chief of Associated Press (AP), has joined the United News of Bangladesh (UNB) as its Advisory Editor. “We’re very pleased to have Mr Farid Hossain on board as he brings with him four and a half decades of experience in journalism. His wealth of experience perfectly positions him to help UNB improve its editorial standards,” said Enayetullah Khan, the Editor-in-Chief of UNB. Enayetullah Khan adds: “Farid Hossain’s expertise, also as a new media veteran, will allow UNB to drive forward its digital mission as the sphere of journalism has gone through radical changes.” Read: Afsan Chowdhury joins UNB, Dhaka Courier as Editor-at-Large One of the founding members of UNB and former Vice President of the Jatiya Press Club, Farid Hossain spent much of his career working for international media, including Time magazine and The Telegraph, Kolkata. A freedom fighter, Farid Hossain also served as President of Overseas Correspondents Association of Bangladesh (OCAB) and President of Commonwealth Journalists Association, Bangladesh. UNB and Dhaka Courier have recently welcomed on board veteran journalist Afsan Chowdhury, a Bangla Academy Award winner and a Liberation War historian, as Editor-at-Large. Read UNB redefining its digital content with AP videos Having a nationwide network of over 100 correspondents and international correspondents in New York, New Delhi, Beijing, Cairo, Los Angeles, London, Brussels, Tokyo and Singapore, UNB serves over 20 million viewers, listeners and readers. Currently, UNB has News Exchange Agreements with over 40 countries in the world, including PTI of India, Xinhua of China, Kyodo of Japan, Bernama of Malaysia, AsiaNet, Yonhap of South Korea, ITAR-TASS News Agency of Russia, FAAPA of Africa, CAN of Cyprus, Moroccan News Agency (MAP), Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) and Emirates News Agency (WAM) of the UAE to name a few. Founded in 1988, UNB is the first fully digitalised wire service in South Asia and is the principal partner in news exchange with AP, one of the world's largest wire services. Read Enayetullah Khan represents Bangladesh at 17th OANA General Assembly Also, a member of News Agencies World Congress (NAWC), UNB has remained true to its core values of accuracy and integrity.

The Jatiya Press Club (JPC) has strongly condemned the Israeli brutality and airstrike that targeted and destroyed a Gaza City building housing the AP, broadcaster Al-Jazeera and other media. The JPC leaders held a meeting virtually on Monday chaired by its President Farida Yasmin and conducted by its General Secretary Elias Khan. The Israeli attacks leveled the 12-story al-Jalaa tower. Read:Media demand Israel explain destruction of news offices The JPC leaders in the virtual meeting discussed the overall situation in Palestine amid brutality carried out by Israeli and expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine, according to a media release signed by JPC Joint Secretary Mainul Alam. The JPC also conveyed condolences over the loss of lives in Palestine amid Israeli attacks. The JPC leaders urged all concerned to ensure peace and stability there and safety and security of the people including the members of the media in the conflict zones.  

As Election Day ground on into “election week,” it became increasingly clear that Democrat Joe Biden would oust President Donald Trump from the White House. Late-counted ballots in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Georgia continued to keep Biden in the lead and offered him multiple paths to victory.