Google is reportedly testing a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool to help journalists churn out news stories and has been pitching it to news organisations including News Corp, the parent company of The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

The New York Times was the first to report the matter and said that the “responsible” technology is codenamed “Genesis” which is being pitched as “a kind of personal assistant for journalists, automating some tasks to free up time for others”.

“The tool, known internally by the working title Genesis, can take in information — details of current events, for example — and generate news content, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the product,” the report said.

Jenn Crider, a Google spokeswoman, told The Times in a statement that the AI tool is not intended to replace journalists but to help me by providing “options for headlines and other writing styles”.

“Our goal is to give journalists the choice of using these emerging technologies in a way that enhances their work and productivity, just like we’re making assistive tools available for people in Gmail and in Google Docs,” Crider told The Verge.

While Google has typically curated information and directed people to publishers' websites to read more, tools like its chatbot, Bard, present factual assertions that are occasionally inaccurate and do not direct traffic to more authoritative sources, such as news publishers.

Jeff Jarvis, director of the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York, believes that the tool could damage the credibility of a news organisation and that of itself if it is mishandled. Even if the tool is being used to write news stories, the content still needs to be vetted by journalists for accuracy and nuances.