Unionized journalists at Politico and E&E News went to arbitration Friday in a legal dispute over artificial intelligence.
The hearing will determine whether Politico violated key protections around AI use that were secured in the PEN Guild’s first collective bargaining agreement— one of the first union contracts in the media industry to include enforceable rules for AI.
With no federal standards in place, union contracts are key to protecting journalism from artificial intelligence use by employers.
“This is one of the first major tests of enforceable AI protections in a newsroom,” said Arianna Skibell, vice chair of contract enforcement at PEN Guild, in a statement. “We’re fighting not just for our contract, but for the future of ethical journalism in the age of AI.”
Last year, PEN Guild members ratified a first contract that required management to bargain over new AI tools and ensure any AI-generated content meets the same ethical and editorial standards as human reporting.
The union alleges Politico violated these provisions twice:
- AI-generated live coverage of major political events, including the 2024 Democratic National Convention and the vice presidential debate, was published without required union notice or human review. One summary used language barred by the newsroom’s Stylebook (“criminal migrants”) and misattributed political actions. These errors were quietly removed, bypassing standard editorial correction protocols.
- A “Report Builder” tool, developed in partnership with CapitolAI, went live in March to generate branded policy reports for subscribers. The AI has produced major factual errors, including claims that Roe v. Wade remains law and fabricating lobbying causes of nonexistent groups.
