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Associated Press to lay off 8% of staff

The news publisher said affected employees will be notified over the next few weeks.
The news publisher said affected employees will be notified over the next few weeks.

The Associated Press said today it would lay off about 8% of its workforce as it looks to modernise its operations and products.

The news publisher said affected employees will be notified over the next few weeks. It will offer a voluntary separation plan to a small number of eligible staff, based on department, role and tenure.

It has reached a tentative agreement with the News Media Guild, subject to ratification, to extend this offer to some union staff in the US.

Founded in 1846 as a news cooperative, the Associated Press has journalists in nearly 100 countries and in all 50 US states, according to its website.

"We are taking proactive steps, including making some staff reductions, as we focus on meeting the evolving needs of our customers," it said in a statement.

The news publisher's CEO Daisy Veerasingham said in a memo to employees that those eligible for the voluntary plan will be notified by the end of the day.

AP was among the first news organizations to sign a deal with OpenAI. It had licensed a part of its archive of news stories to the ChatGPT-maker last year, setting a precedent for similar partnerships.