Deal reached in feud between California news outlets and Google: $250 million to support journalism but no new law

California lawmakers intend to shelve legislation that would have required Google to pay news outlets for distributing their content, and in its place announced a new public-private partnership between the state and Google that will fund programs to research artificial intelligence and bolster local journalism. The plan lays out a commitment of nearly $250 million over the next five years, with just over one-fourth of the money coming from state taxpayers and the remainder coming from Google and possibly other private donors. The money will go toward two new initiatives administered by the University of California Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism: a fund to distribute millions of dollars to California news outlets, and an “AI accelerator” to develop ways for journalists to use the powerful technology. As part of the agreement, the state will put $30 million from next year’s budget into the fund, and contribute $10 million in each of the next four years. Google will put $15 million into the fund next year, and pay another $15 million next year to support other journalism initiatives: $5 million for the AI accelerator and $10 million in direct donations to digital news outlets. In each of the next four years, Google commitments include putting $10 million into the new fund and continuing $10 million in direct donations to news outlets. Money in the fund will be distributed to California newsrooms based on how many full-time journalists they employ. A new nonprofit organization will be formed to administer the programs at UC Berkeley, with a board made up of representatives from across California’s industry.