The development marks the final step in a years-long dispute between the Austrian government and the newspaper about the future of the state-owned daily.
Founded in 1703 under the name Wiennerisches Diarium, and later renamed Wiener Zeitung in 1780, the formerly private bi-weekly paper was nationalised by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria in 1857, becoming the country's official gazette.
"It is adopted with a majority," Norbert Hofer, the third president of the parliament, said of a new law to primarily move the publication online from July 1.
The paper will maintain a minimum of ten print publications per year, depending on the funds available.
The Wiener Zeitung was in 2004 ranked as one of the oldest newspapers still in circulation, the World Association of News Publishers told AFP.
The newspaper's role as official gazette, it's main source of revenue, will move to a separate state-owned online platform.
The government argued that this was in line with a European directive to centralise and publish official information online.
Meanwhile, the Wiener Zeitung will establish a media hub, a content agency, and a training centre for journalists.
"Some fear that the government just wants to keep the Wiener Zeitung brand with its 320-year-old history, while nobody knows what the future publication will look like -- whether it will still be serious journalism," its vice managing editor Mathias Ziegler told AFP.
Almost half of the newspaper's over 200 employees -- 40 of whom are journalists -- could be laid off, according to its trade union.
The Wiener Zeitung has a circulation of about 20,000 on weekdays and about twice as much on weekends.
EU Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova told Austrian news agency APA that she was "not happy with the situation".
"I think the Wiener Zeitung played a good role in informing people over the years".
Several hundred people took to the streets in Vienna on Tuesday to protest the government's move.
Ever since its release in November 2022, ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence-driven chatbot developed by research and development firm OpenAI, has been a topic of discussion among journalists regarding its potential influence on the news industry and media.
ChatGPT is capable of automatically generating text based on written prompts and engaging in conversational interactions with users by answering their questions.
It has gained immense popularity, reaching more than 100 million users within the first two months.
The chatbot's appeal lies in its detailed and human-like responses in a conversational format, including the ability to challenge incorrect assumptions and answer follow-up questions.
The Associated Press, Reuters, The Washington Post, the BBC and the New York Times benefit from artificial intelligence to produce content, personalize their offerings and improve audience engagement.
The US-based media outlet BuzzFeed is also planning to use ChatGPT to improve their quizzes and personalize certain content for their audiences.
Speaking to Anadolu, Jonathan Soma, who runs a data journalism program at Columbia University's Journalism School, described ChatGPT as a "fantastic tool" for producing ideas and giving suggestions to journalists.
"But just like any suggestions, they are apt to be misleading or incorrect. That is why ChatGPT works best alongside journalists, as a tool to assist their process, not as a standalone product that does the work of a journalist,” Soma said in an email interview.
He said that many news organizations are enthusiastic about utilizing GPT-powered instruments to publish stories but noted that this is a higher-cost investment.
"This could be seen when CNET recently published a large number of error-prone articles: even when it's claimed that editors review and revise AI-generated pieces, they probably don't!"
"It's very easy for the business case of ‘increasing productivity’ to overrule the ability of journalists to take care and produce their best work,” he added.
CNET, a US-based tech website, has reportedly published AI-generated content.
Asked about ChatGPT’s role to enhance the quality and efficiency of journalism, Soma said it can do a good job at fact-checking despite its "tendency to hallucinate."
"GPT-based automated tools for analyzing datasets and querying large sets of documents are quickly maturing and can do a lot to improve the accuracy of reporting."
"For example, if I'm writing about a rise in shoplifting, it can automatically query a database to see if this is an accurate portrayal."
Biggest problem with ChatGPT is 'absolutely accuracy'
In February 2023, OpenAI announced its plan to offer a subscription service called ChatGPT Plus.
This service provides numerous advantages to its subscribers such as quicker responses with priority access to new updates and enhancements. It costs $20 per month.
ChatGPT has some limitations, as it can give wrong responses, not just once but possibly multiple times.
OpenAI already accepts the limitations.
"ChatGPT sometimes writes a plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answer," the company says.
Soma also agrees that the biggest problem with ChatGPT is “absolutely accuracy,” which brings some potential ethical concerns associated with the use of it in journalism such as bias or accuracy issues.
"Large language models tend to ‘hallucinate,’ and give answers to questions that are incorrect but sound accurate," he said.
"Someone who can say ‘I don't know’ is more trustworthy than someone who always has an answer, and it is unfortunately very difficult to cajole ChatGPT into saying ‘I don't know.’”
Asked about the challenges journalists would face in integrating ChatGPT into their workflow, he said "fear" and a "lack of knowledge" probably are the largest issues for the news industry.
"The messaging around ChatGPT is one of those things -- it's perfect and all-knowing, or it's a biased garbage machine."
"If journalists can take the time – not on deadline, not explicitly for work – to play around with ChatGPT in a guided environment, it could do a lot to help them see its strengths and weaknesses."
