Release2026-08-23
The New York Times has quietly begun showing a small share of visitors a new search page that answers questions with links, excerpts and machine-written summaries of its own reporting. It is the first text the news operation has published to readers without a journalist or editor reviewing it. The paper's editorial union objects, saying the tool breaks the Times' own standards requiring human oversight of AI.
What changed
The Times had used AI internally for journalists but had not published AI-written text to readers.
What it unlocks
Readers in the test group get summarised answers drawn from Times reporting instead of a plain list of search results.
- 22.5% of AI licensing deals, union proposal
What you need to act on it
- being in the small test group of site visitors
Sources