Scandal about politico: Journalists complain about AI errors in the arbitration process!

Scandal about politico: Journalists complain about AI errors in the arbitration process!

Wittenberg, Deutschland - An exciting chapter in the world of journalism is writing to politico and e&E news. The Pen Guild, a union that represents more than 270 journalists in these editors, has now initiated an arbitration against Politico. The dispute revolves around the use of AI technology in reporting, which, according to the trade unionists, violates contractual regulations. This reports Futurism .

The conflict has its origin in the events related to last year's democratic National Congress. Suddenly a "live summary" generated by AI appeared on the political website, and with just one hour lead time for the editorial team. This not only caused confusion, but also legitimate concerns, since the AI apparently made numerous mistakes, including invented quotes and missed names. For example, language was used that violated Politico's editorial standards. It was also reprehensible that these errors were removed without making the necessary written corrections, which represents a further break of the standards.

The demands of the Pen guild

The Pen Guild is entitled to a proper notice if new technologies are introduced that significantly influence the work of the journalists. The existing collective agreement demands a period of 60 days, but politico has disregarded this rule. In March 2025, a AI service called "Policy Intelligence Assistance" was launched, which came up with persistent inaccuracies and thus only reinforced the concerns of the union.

The union has already submitted formal complaints, but they were in the sand. This now led to this arbitration procedure, which could perhaps create a pioneering decision for the use of AI in unionized editorial offices. There are currently no nationwide standards for the use of AI in news editorial offices, which also complicated the situation. pen Guild for this reason published a petition and published a video to draw attention to your concerns.

The pressure from above

Another turn in this story is the influence of Axel Springer, the parent company of politico and the largest publisher in Europe. CEO Mathias Döpfner recently ordered that all employees have to use AI tools. If someone does without it, he must explain this. In practice, this means that the need to deal responsibly with AI not only rests on the shoulders of the editorial team, but also based on the specifications of the company.

The Pen Guild, which was founded in 2021 and is part of the Washington Baltimore News Guild, has granted itself in its strong protective measures against the improper use of AI in 2024 and prevailed. The upcoming negotiations and the arbitration procedure will now be crucial to clarify the future role of technology in everyday journalistic everyday life and ensure that the integrity of the reporting is maintained.