The Washington Post Debuts ‘Ask The Post AI’ For Fact-Based Answers

The Washington Post has announced “Ask The Post AI,” an experimental generative AI tool designed to provide users with concise, factual answers sourced directly from the publication’s journalism.

Drawing from articles published by The Washington Post since 2016, the tool summarizes relevant information and suggests related stories.

To keep the answers accurate, the Post states that the tool only responds if it finds a directly relevant article. If it doesn’t, it won’t provide an answer, avoiding the risk of misinformation.

According to Chief Technology Officer Vineet Khosla, the AI tool is part of the publication’s effort to keep up with how people are changing the way they read news.

Currently, “Ask The Post AI” only uses text articles, but future updates may include video, audio, and opinion pieces for a broader range of responses. To reduce errors — known in AI terms as “hallucinations,” when an AI misinterprets information — the tool relies exclusively on the publication’s own work.

The Post claims that it has designed the tool to work with different AI systems to reduce its environmental impact, aiming for energy efficiency. As the tool is rolled out, readers are encouraged to share feedback to help The Post improve future versions.

This move aligns with broader shifts in the media landscape, as companies like Meta and OpenAI have also begun integrating AI with news content.

However, the growing reliance on AI to generate summaries and insights from news articles has raised concerns. Publishers fear that AI models could undermine their revenue by providing summaries without driving traffic to the original sources.

As AI tools become better at summarizing content, users may opt to rely on these summaries rather than visiting news websites, potentially decreasing both visibility and ad revenue for publishers.

In parallel, recent disputes, such as The New York Times’ demand that Perplexity stop using its content, underscore the complexities of AI’s role in journalism.

As AI models become more prevalent, publishers are increasingly worried about unauthorized use of their work, especially as the technology becomes better at delivering news without linking back to the original articles.