The AI fight brewing inside The New York Times

Key Points:

• Unionized tech staff at The New York Times, represented by the Tech Guild, allege management has withheld information about AI use and violated their contract by deploying AI tools that monitor employee performance without proper negotiation.
• The Times uses two AI tools, DX and Glean, which the union claims function as surveillance technologies by tracking individual productivity metrics and internal document activity, potentially leading to unfair disciplinary actions.
• The Tech Guild argues that these AI-generated metrics oversimplify complex engineering work and do not reflect quality or actual output, raising concerns about privacy, transparency, and workplace fairness.
• Both the Tech Guild and Times Guild have filed unfair labor practice charges against the company for refusing to provide AI-related information, while contract negotiations focus on establishing protections around AI use, transparency, and compensation.
• Industry-wide, journalists and media workers are increasingly pushing for union contracts that address AI deployment, emphasizing the need for human oversight, clear disclosure, and worker involvement in AI-related decisions.