Los Angeles Times offers AI-generated dissents on opinion pieces
The Los Angeles Times is introducing AI-generated dissenting opinions for its editorial pieces as part of a new feature designed to enhance the reader’s understanding of bias in journalism. This initiative is spearheaded by owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, who aims to implement a “bias meter” that will provide insights into the perspectives presented in opinion articles. By using AI technology, including a tool called the “Reasoning Engine,” readers can access additional summaries and counterarguments when they interact with the “Insights” button at the end of opinion pieces.
This development comes amid some changes within the editorial team, notably the resignation of several members following a controversial decision to withhold endorsements. Soon-Shiong, who purchased the newspaper in 2018, expressed his intention to run it as a profitable entity rather than as a charitable endeavor.The Los Angeles Times, which has historically endorsed Democratic candidates, is now looking to incorporate more varied viewpoints, reflecting a potential shift in its editorial direction.
Los Angeles Times offers AI-generated dissents on opinion pieces
The Los Angeles Times is offering dissenting opinions generated by artificial intelligence for its opinion pieces.
This is a tool of owner Patrick Soon-Shiong’s bias meter on the paper’s editorials and opinion pieces. With his previous experience in biomedicine, Soon-Shiong created the “Reasoning Engine” patent to facilitate the technology.
When readers scroll to the bottom of an opinion story, they can click the “Insights” button to reveal the article’s bias. Additionally, the AI offers a synopsis and a dissenting opinion.
AI has increasingly been used in schools, with students leaning on the tool for class projects. Various AI chatbots are free for students to use.
The bias meter was revealed on Scott Jennings’s podcast Flyover Country in December. Since then, the paper has hired Jennings as one of the first of many conservative columnists.
Five editorial board members quit after Soon-Shiong stopped the paper from endorsing then-Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 election. Terry Tang joins Soon-Shiong as the only other board member as the owner has yet to hire more.
Since 2008, the paper’s editorial board has endorsed the Democratic presidential candidate. The Los Angeles Times is the biggest newspaper in Harris’s home state of California and endorsed Harris when she ran for the Senate in 2016 and for attorney general before that.
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The last major endorsement from the paper was in 2022, when the board endorsed then-mayoral candidate Karen Bass to lead Los Angeles. Since then, Soon-Shiong expressed his regret over the endorsement, explaining “competence matters.” Bass is planning to run for reelection this November.
Soon-Shiong bought the paper in 2018. In an interview with the paper to explain the “Insights” tool, he reiterated his 100-year plan to run the paper profitably rather than treat the paper like a “philanthropic trust.”
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