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 the tech giant 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 one-fourth of the money coming from state taxpayers and three-fourths of it coming from Google and possibly other private donors. The money will go toward two new initiatives administered by UC 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. "This agreement represents a major breakthrough in ensuring the survival of newsrooms and bolstering local journalism across California -- leveraging substantial tech industry resources without imposing new taxes on Californians," Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. "The deal not only provides funding to support hundreds of new journalists, but helps rebuild a robust and dynamic California press corps for years to come, reinforcing the vital role of journalism in our democracy."