Newsroom Robots

The Philadelphia Inquirer never had an AI engineer on staff until the Lenfest AI Collaborative & Fellowship program changed that. The collaborative is a $5 million partnership between the Lenfest Institute, OpenAI, and Microsoft that placed 10 AI fellows in American newsrooms for two years. These engineers work within the organizations, building tools that solve real newsroom problems. This week on Newsroom Robots, host Nikita Roy sits down with Jim Friedlich, CEO and Executive Director of the Lenfest Institute, David Chivers, lead advisor to the Lenfest AI Collaborative and Matt Boggie, CTO of The Philadelphia Inquirer, to walk through how the program works and what the Inquirer has built as a result. The Inquirer came to the collaborative with an idea to build a full-archive search tool that would let reporters query decades of journalism. They expected it to take 24 months. Within two weeks of a Microsoft hackathon, they had working code. The tool, now called Dewey , searches everything the Inquirer has published since 1978. This episode covers: 03:02 — How the Lenfest AI Collaborative got started 05:34 — Can newsrooms trust big tech partners? 08:33 — How the fellowship works day to day 14:52– Inside the Microsoft hackathon that built Dewey in two weeks 21:37 — Training journalists to understand LLM limitations 24:07 — How AI literacy has changed newsroom culture 29:45 – How small newsrooms can get started with AI 35:14 — AI answers, search decline, and the future of audience traffic 38:15 — Rethinking journalism’s role in an AI-mediated world 41:23 — Closing reflections and personal AI use This episode of Newsroom Robots is supported by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism . Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Newsroom Robots, host Nikita Roy is joined by Tav Klitgaard, the CEO of the Danish newsroom Zetland, to unpack the origin story of GoodTape — an AI transcription tool that began as an internal newsroom solution and evolved into a profitable, global product used far beyond journalism. Zetland is an audio-first newsroom in Denmark. But GoodTape wasn’t born from an AI strategy or a product roadmap. It emerged from a familiar newsroom pain point of journalists spending hours transcribing interviews, with existing tools falling short, especially in non-English languages like Danish. In this conversation, Tav breaks down how GoodTape went from an internal experiment to a standalone, subscription-based product that quickly became profitable, generated millions in revenue and was eventually divested. He also shares what building GoodTape taught Zetland about AI adoption, organizational learning, and where newsrooms should, and shouldn’t, use generative AI. This episode covers: 05:50 – How a prototype using OpenAI’s Whisper sparked GoodTape 08:36 – The moment Zetland realized GoodTape could be a real product 12:34 – How journalism’s trust and privacy standards became a product advantage 13:59 – What actually improves transcription quality beyond the model itself 15:27 – How GoodTape became profitable and contributed to Zetland’s revenue 16:29 – Why Zetland eventually divested GoodTape instead of scaling it internally 17:36 – What building an AI product taught Zetland about newsroom AI adoption 19:08 – Why Zetland uses AI for productivity, not editorial output 28:14 – A real-world example of AI use that forced Zetland to rethink its own guidelines 30:34 – Why principles matter more than rigid AI rules in newsrooms Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you redesign a newsroom’s entire workflow when AI is no longer a single tool, but a collection of agents, voice interfaces, and ambient intelligence changing how journalism gets produced? This week on Newsroom Robots, host Nikita Roy is joined by Markus Franz, Chief Technology Officer at Ippen Digital, one of Germany’s largest digital media networks with more than 80 online news and media portals. This episode was recorded live at the Digital Growth Summit in Stuttgart, where Markus shared how his team is building some of the most forward-looking AI experiments in European media. Markus leads Ippen Digital’s Incubator Lab, an innovation unit focused on reimagining how publishing and AI-driven experiences will evolve. With 16 years inside the company, Markus has been central to Ippen’s digital transformation and now leads efforts around multi-agent architectures and building adaptive workflows for the newsroom. In this conversation, Markus breaks down how his lab is experimenting with multi-agent “virtual teams,” voice-first newsroom interfaces, multimodal content production and an ambient AI-powered newsroom where intelligent systems support journalists in real time. He shares what his team has learned from early prototypes, why the biggest challenges are cultural rather than technical, and how news organizations should think about guardrails, platform dependency, and the rise of self-evolving models. This episode covers: 02:22 – Why Ippen Digital built an Incubator Lab and how it’s structured as a future-focused R&D unit 04:49 – What multi-agent systems look like inside a newsroom 9:42 – The case for voice as the next major interface for both journalists and audiences 14:41 – The shift from human-in-the-loop to human-on-the-loop workflows 17:40 – Guardrails for agent systems: grounding, bounding, editorial policies 19:33 – The vision for an ambient newsroom powered by AI companions and real-time intelligence 27:31 – Why vendor lock-in and self-evolving LLMs pose new strategic risks 30:08 – Multimodal personalization and rethinking how news is experienced 34:27 – Why most AI pilots fail and what experimentation looks like in practice 49:19 – Markus’s personal AI stack and how he uses these tools day-to-day Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you bring AI into a newsroom as big and globally distributed as the BBC, an editorial network that stretches across 42 languages and more than 5,000 journalists? This week on Newsroom Robots, host Nikita Roy talks to Olle Zachrison, Head of News AI at BBC News, where he leads the BBC’s efforts to advance AI use and strengthen its journalism and audience experiences. Previously, the Head of AI at Swedish Radio, Olle has spent the past few years implementing practical newsroom AI workflows while upholding public-service values. In this conversation, Olle breaks down BBC’s four-part AI strategy, covering large-scale translation and transcription, content reformatting, investigative tools, and early experiments with synthetic audio and conversational news. He shares what’s working inside one of the world’s largest news organizations, what routinely stalls AI projects, and why the most challenging part of AI transformation isn’t the technology but the collaboration required across editorial, product, and engineering. Olle also reflects on what it means to innovate as a public broadcaster in an AI-driven ecosystem, and why archives, credibility, and direct audience relationships will determine which journalism remains indispensable in the years ahead. This episode covers: 03:39 – The BBC’s four-part AI strategy: Boosting productivity, reformatting content, augmenting journalism, and innovating user experience as the core themes 05:10 – Using AI for large-scale transcription, tagging, live pages, alt text, newsletter production, and translation to save time and make content more searchable. 08:17 – Reformatting content across platforms and formats 20:59 – Innovating user experiences with synthetic audio and conversational formats 31:59 – How the BBC uses strategic themes, clear metrics, and fast pilots to decide what’s worth building and scaling 46:59 – Inside the BBC’s fine-tuned LLM and Style Assist 52:01 – What it means to be a public broadcaster in an AI-driven ecosystem 01:02:58 – Olle’s personal AI stack Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Newsroom Robots, host Nikita Roy sits down with Vilas Dhar, President of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, one of the world's foremost philanthropies advancing AI for public good. Dhar leads a $1.5 billion endowment that has committed over $500 million to projects spanning climate action, public health, education, and democratic governance. He has served on the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Advisory Body on AI, is the U.S. government's nominated expert to the Global Partnership on AI, and was named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2022. Across philanthropy, policy, and technology, Dhar carries one central conviction: technology may accelerate, but the future of journalism and society must remain human-centered. Dhar introduces a three-part framework for ethical AI deployment (responsible data, clear boundaries, and transparency) and explains how to translate abstract principles into concrete newsroom decisions. He unpacks his LISA framework (Listen, Involve, Share, Assess) for audience-centered AI design, and tackles the hardest questions facing newsroom leaders: Should we buy or build AI tools? How do we balance innovation with environmental sustainability? What happens to human creativity when machines can create? But perhaps most powerfully, Dhar challenges a deeply held belief in journalism: that media organizations can remain ‘just’ media companies in an AI-driven world. There is no way to be a media organization today without also being a technology organization, he argues, and that shift requires not just new tools, but a fundamental reckoning with organizational identity and purpose. This epiosde covers: 00:31 – Introducing Vilas Dhar and his human-centered AI vision: Why technology should serve dignity, equity, and democracy—not just profit 02:17 – The three-part framework for ethical AI: Responsible data, clear boundaries, and transparency as actionable principles 07:08 – Questions leaders must ask before deploying AI: Who's involved? Who's accountable? Who has editorial control over AI use? 10:16 – The LISA framework: Listen, Involve, Share, Assess to turn AI experimentation into behind-the-scenes reporting that builds public trust 13:30 – Navigating ethical dilemmas around AI-generated content 13:51 – The three phases of newsroom AI adoption 18:54 – Why "we're not a tech company" no longer works 23:12 – Organizational reckoning in an 18-month transformation cycle 25:23 – Why smaller, targeted models and collective action matter more than massive systems 29:14 – Fighting misinformation with AI 34:13 – What journalism is missing compared to other industries 37:01 – The evolving role of human creativity and agency 39:33 – The McGovern Foundation's North Star 44:23 – How Vilas uses AI personally Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How does a 182-year-old global magazine stay ahead in the age of generative AI? This week on Newsroom Robots, host Nikita Roy is joined by Ludwig Siegele, Senior Editor for AI Initiatives at The Economist. After more than 25 years reporting from San Francisco, Berlin, and London, Siegele now leads the publication’s AI strategy. He discusses how The Economist launched its AI Lab—a startup-style group within the organization with the freedom to test bold ideas and move quickly. The lab is charged with looking years ahead, preparing for a future where much of journalism’s supply chain may be automated, and ensuring The Economist maintains its identity in an AI-driven media ecosystem. From practical newsroom wins like AI-powered translation and research pipelines to more experimental projects such as TikTok video dubbing and the SCOTUS bot, Siegele explains how The Economist is testing, iterating, and learning in real time. He also reflects on what hasn’t worked, the challenges of newsroom adoption, and why the next phase of journalism may require redefining the role of the journalist itself. In this episode: 00:00 – Introducing Ludwig Siegele & The Economist’s AI journey 01:31 – How AI experimentation began at The Economist 03:26 – Overcoming newsroom fear of ChatGPT 04:53 – Building AI infrastructure and upskilling staff 07:10 – The tools and vendor partnerships powering experiments 08:29 – Why adoption is harder than building tools 12:10 – Translation, research, and NotebookLM as newsroom game changers 16:06 – How automation could reshape the journalist’s role 18:41 – Launching The Economist AI Lab 24:11 – Audience-facing AI experiments (TikTok dubbing, Espresso app, SCOTUS bot) 26:05 – Partnering with Google NotebookLM while protecting the brand 30:02 – Scraping, monetization, and the future of publisher revenue 33:41 – Measuring ROI on AI initiatives 37:40 – The biggest barriers to newsroom AI adoption 39:14 – How Ludwig uses AI personally in art and culture 40:40 – Closing reflections Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Estonia, Delfi Meedia has built one of the strongest foundations for AI in journalism. With one of the highest digital subscription rates in the world, Delfi has moved beyond the buzz around AI to put it into everyday practice, supporting both its journalism and business. In this episode, host Nikita Roy is joined by Ivar Krustok, Chief AI & Innovation Officer at Delfi Meedia. Ivar breaks down how a small-market publisher is shipping AI that actually helps journalists: from live cross-language translation and newsroom bots to an in-house “company ChatGPT” toolkit wired into 25 years of archives and public records. Key topics include: •Delfi’s three-bucket AI strategy: everyday newsroom tools, experimental long-term projects, and company-wide literacy. •Why Delfi built its own “company ChatGPT” toolkit to search 25 years of archives. •How bots and agents are transforming dashboards into conversational tools for subscriptions, ads, and editorial performance. •Lessons from AI experiments, from court-case monitoring that surfaces hidden stories to audience-facing image generators. •The ongoing challenge of scaling AI literacy across hundreds of staff while keeping adoption practical and trust-centered. Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a new academic year begins, journalism schools face a defining challenge: how to prepare students for a profession being reshaped by AI. At Stanford University, Djordje Padejski is leading the way. A veteran investigative journalist and now associate director of the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford, he created one of the earliest AI-focused journalism courses at Arizona State University before bringing it to Stanford last year. His classroom is less lecture hall and more lab, where students test AI tools and also learn to examine them. On Newsroom Robots, Djordje shared how he structures his course and what journalism schools must do to prepare the next generation of journalists. Key topics include: Why journalism education must move beyond teaching AI as just a tool and instead frame it as a socio-technical phenomenon. How to embed AI literacy in classrooms by separating hype from reality, contextualizing the history of AI, and examining its cultural and ethical limits. Practical strategies Djordje uses to structure his Stanford course, from lab-style experimentation to peer-led discussions that uncover both opportunities and pitfalls of tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and NotebookLM. The importance of teaching students not just how to use AI but how to critically assess its strengths, biases, and limitations. What a future journalism curriculum or degree built around AI might look like, and how educators across disciplines can prepare the next generation of reporters. Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, host Nikita Roy is joined by Sara Beykpour, co-founder and CEO of Particle News — the AI-powered news aggregator. Launched in November 2024, Particle blends multi-perspective coverage, concise AI-generated summaries, and a bias meter that makes framing visible, giving readers both speed and trust in the same experience. Key topics include: How Particle’s “Reality Check” process works using multi-source input and verification passes to minimize hallucinations and produce more accurate summaries. Strategies Particle uses to maintain reader trust in an era when AI-generated summaries can quickly erode it. How Particle surfaces bias with a meter that shows how coverage leans left, right, or center and updates as stories develop. The role of topic-based personalization in avoiding filter bubbles while still giving readers tailored news feeds. Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if the future of journalism isn’t locked behind the paywalls of big tech companies, but freely available to every newsroom willing to embrace it? Too often, the conversation around AI in newsrooms centers on big tech, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini. These are powerful tools, no doubt but they come with caveats: mainly cost, limited transparency, and little to no control over where your data ends up. But there’s another world of AI rapidly evolving in parallel and it might be journalism’s best path forward: open-source AI. In this episode of Newsroom Robots, host Nikita Roy reconnects with returning guest Florent Daudens, now the Press Lead at Hugging Face, one of the leading platforms powering open source AI. Formerly a newsroom leader driving AI integration at Canada’s Radio-Canada, Florent now sits at the heart of the open source AI movement. Key topics include: Why open source AI matters for journalism and how it compares to proprietary models The rise of AI agents and what they mean for editorial control and user experience How compressed, privacy-first models running on laptops and phones could change the game The environmental cost of AI and how newsrooms can make more sustainable tech choices What news apps might look like in an agent-powered future How newsrooms can start experimenting with open source AI (no dev team required) Plus, Florent shares 20 must-know open source AI tools for journalists, explains how writing is building in the age of AI, and discusses why owning the experience, not just the content, will be key to journalism’s survival Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this live episode of Newsroom Robots, host Nikita Roy moderates a panel discussion recorded at the Nordic AI and Media Summit in Copenhagen. The conversation features Gard Steiro (Editor-in-Chief and CEO of VG in Norway), Fabian Heckenberger (Managing Editor and Senior Editor for AI at Süddeutsche Zeitung in Germany), and Naja Nielsen (Media Director at SVT in Sweden and former Digital Director at BBC News). They discuss how news organizations are approaching the complexities of integrating AI into editorial workflows, organizational strategy, and audience experiences. The conversation focuses on the tensions, trade-offs, and open questions that newsroom leaders are wrestling with. Key topics include: How AI is shifting from isolated projects to infrastructure across newsroom operations, and the implications for leadership and cross-functional teams. Why VG uses a fixed one-year runway model to evaluate AI experiments, and what happens when projects don’t deliver measurable outcomes. The role of transparency and relevance in building trust with audiences, particularly for younger and emerging user groups. SVT’s approach to organizational learning, including how leadership can empower experimentation without centralizing all decision-making. What interdisciplinary teams look like in practice—drawing on SZ’s experience embedding editorial staff into product and tech teams. Challenges with prioritization: choosing between maintaining legacy systems, launching new GenAI tools, or refining user experience. Why personalization can’t rely on a human-in-the-loop model, and how AI agents may soon take on quality assurance roles within content pipelines. Emerging revenue considerations: from small-scale funding streams and philanthropic support to fundamental questions about what people are actually willing to pay for. The episode wraps with a candid exchange about whether the article format has outlived its usefulness in an era of personalized, multimodal news delivery and what that means for the future of storytelling and journalistic impact. Subscribe to the Newsroom Robots newsletter for more insights and updates from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this live episode, host Nikita Roy sits down with Gina Chua, Executive Editor of Semafor, recorded at an event at New York University hosted in collaboration with the AI networking group, Humans in the Loop. Gina brings a uniquely expansive lens to the AI conversation, grounded in her leadership across global newsrooms—from Reuters and The Wall Street Journal to the South China Morning Post. Now at Semafor, she continues to be a leading voice rethinking the information ecosystem for an AI-driven world. In this wide-ranging and candid conversation, Gina explores how generative AI is reshaping the fundamental architecture of journalism—from editorial workflows and business models to the core definition of a story. She discusses her team’s experiments with building custom AI tools like Miso, a multilingual aggregation system powering Semafor’s Signals format. Key topics include: How Semafor is using AI for multilingual search, editorial summarization, and style guide enforcement built directly into Google Suite workflows using App Scripts and Claude. The challenges of building durable AI products in newsrooms including unstable models, integration hurdles, and evolving use cases. Rethinking the role of journalists in an AI world: where value lies in asking the right questions, building audience understanding, and creating narratives only humans can shape. The importance of reframing journalism’s mission not as saving “journalists” or “journalism,” but as delivering information in the public interest. Behind-the-scenes on JESS (Journalist Expert Safety Support), a chatbot Gina prototyped and co-developed to democratize access to field safety guidance for reporters worldwide. Why the future of news depends on tight, authentic relationships with audiences and how startups like Semafor are designing for trust, voice, and community from the ground up. The episode closes with reflections on Gina’s personal coding journey with AI including her work building an assistive tool for a friend with ALS. Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode insights and updates from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this live episode, host Nikita Roy sits down with Zach Seward, Editorial Director of AI Initiatives at The New York Times, recorded at the ONA x Newsroom Robots AI Leadership Summit in Detroit. With a background that spans journalism, product, and executive leadership, Zach brings a rare blend of newsroom insight and entrepreneurial thinking to the challenges of this AI era. Before joining the Times, he co-founded Quartz , where he served as editor-in-chief, CEO, and chief product officer, helping to pioneer digital-native journalism. Now at The Times, he’s built a new editorial AI team from the ground up, experimenting with tooling, guiding newsroom adoption, and thinking through what comes next in how journalism is produced, distributed, and consumed. Key topics include: How the Times is using AI to support investigations, including analyzing hundreds of hours of leaked video and massive public data sets using custom LLM workflows. Echo, the in-house summarization tool that’s helping reporters transform articles, headlines, and tags across a range of newsroom needs. Lessons from building a five-person AI team inside a 2,000-person newsroom and why newsroom trust and individual agency are central to successful adoption. Why Zach’s team sees itself as an “AI enablement” group and how their newsroom-wide roadshow has sparked experimentation. The role of AI in reader experiences, from improving internal search to exploring voice interfaces that reimagine how audiences interact with journalism. What it means to build durable, future-ready news products in a media environment increasingly shaped by AI distribution and personalization systems. Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When officials in Santa Clara County (home to Silicon Valley) publicly proclaimed they were not sharing data with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, they likely did not expect to be caught in a contradiction. Yet behind the scenes, those same officials had recently signed new contracts with the federal agency — a fact that might have remained hidden if not for a new generation of AI tools developed at Stanford University. This breakthrough was made possible by Big Local News, a Stanford-based initiative using AI to help local journalists uncover stories hidden deep within public records. As local newsrooms grapple with shrinking resources and overwhelming amounts of data, tools like these are helping restore investigative capacity where it’s needed most. In this episode of Newsroom Robots , Cheryl Phillips, founder and co-director of Big Local News at Stanford University, joins host Nikita Roy to share how her team is building AI-powered tools that support watchdog journalism and make complex data more accessible to reporters across the country. Key topics include: Agenda Watch, a tool that scrapes and indexes public meeting agendas to surface early signals of newsworthy developments across thousands of local agencies. DataTalk, an AI assistant that turns natural language questions into campaign finance data queries, simplifying analysis for journalists without coding expertise. The use of generative AI and large-scale scraping systems to analyze police misconduct records and create public-facing accountability databases. How Big Local News uses Slack-integrated bots to deliver real-time alerts on layoffs and problematic fiscal audits to local newsrooms across the U.S. Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When it comes to AI adoption, experimentation is easy—scaling is hard. So, what is the difference between AI projects that fade out and those that transform newsrooms? A strong infrastructure. In this episode of Newsroom Robots, Kasper Lindskow, the head of AI at JP/Politikens Media Group joins host Nikita Roy. Kasper shares how as one of Denmark's largest media groups they are building a scalable AI infrastructure across multiple news brands, balancing technical innovation with editorial values. Key topics include: The Platform Intelligence in News (PIN) Project — their comprehensive research initiative that brought together technical universities and social science departments Magna — their flagship AI suite that adapts to each publication's unique voice and offers tools from basic writing assistance to complex research capabilities How JP/Politikens evolved from a single-newsroom AI team to a centralized unit with "local AI hubs" at each publication The "Values Compass" framework that ensures AI systems align with journalistic integrity How they customized AI tools for different publications and integrated them into daily newsroom workflows Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Imagine a newsroom where AI agents assist with reporting, actively surface leads, analyze government data, and help journalists navigate complex investigations in real time. Norway’s iTromsø is laying the groundwork for exactly that. In the second part of this episode with Rune Ytreberg, head of data journalism at iTromsø, and Lars Adrian Giske, head of AI join host Nikita Roy to share how their small but ambitious newsroom is systematically building an infrastructure for AI-powered journalism. This isn’t just about isolated tools—it’s about creating a cohesive ecosystem where AI enhances reporting at every level. Rather than simply bolting AI onto existing workflows, iTromsø is focused on building a structured data infrastructure that supports AI agents across multiple newsroom functions. Their vision includes: A centralized AI-powered data interface that allows journalists to filter, analyze, and cross-reference government records, public documents, and municipal archives. Automated news alerts that notify reporters when AI detects important patterns or anomalies in the data. A structured repository of historical data, ensuring journalists have context-rich information at their fingertips, allowing for deeper investigative work. This structured approach isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about creating a foundation where AI can play an active role in surfacing critical stories. iTromsø is designing an AI-ready newsroom—one where structured data, automated insights, and AI-assisted research come together to elevate investigative journalism. Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Translating a journalist's gut instinct into code—is it possible? In Norway, iTromsø—a long-standing regional newspaper known for its investigative journalism and deep local coverage—has found a way. Their AI system, DJINN (Data Journalism Interface for News Gathering and Notification), acts like an experienced beat reporter, scanning hundreds of municipal documents and surfacing the most newsworthy leads. The impact? In their first week using DJINN , summer interns fresh out of journalism school produced five front-page stories—on a beat that usually takes years to master. In this episode of Newsroom Robots, Rune Ytreberg and Lars Adrian Giske join host Nikita Roy to talk about iTromsø’s structured approach to AI-driven reporting and how they built tools that strengthen their local journalism. Rune leads iTromsø’s data journalism lab, where he has been developing AI-driven editorial solutions for 70 local newspapers within the Polaris Media Group since 2020. And Lars is the Head of AI at iTromsø and led the development of DJINN. Since its launch in 2023, 36 newspapers across Norway have adopted DJINN, sourcing documents from nearly half of all Norwegian municipalities. Key topics include: •How a small newsroom built AI tools to strengthen investigative journalism •Why their AI systems are designed for specific beats like urban planning and fisheries, reducing hallucinations and increasing precision. •Embedding editorial expertise in AI development •How their fisheries database flagged irregularities and how their urban planning system transformed local accountability coverage. This is just Part 1 of our deep dive into how iTromsø is using AI to power investigative reporting. In Part 2, Rune and Lars will discuss their latest project: AI-powered research assistants that will proactively surface investigative leads for their journalists. Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Neil Brown, president of The Poynter Institute and former chair of the Pulitzer Prizes, joins host Nikita Roy to discuss the Pulitzer Board's decision to require AI disclosure in prize submissions. In 2024, two Pulitzer Prize winners disclosed using AI in their work - City Bureau and Invisible Institute used machine learning to analyze police misconduct files for "Missing in Chicago," while The New York Times' visual investigations desk employed AI to identify bomb craters in Gaza. Of the 45 finalists that year, five had disclosed using AI in their submissions. In this episode, Brown discusses how the Pulitzer Board approached AI disclosure requirements and shares his perspective on technology's evolving role in journalism. Key topics include: The Pulitzer Board's approach to AI disclosure and transparency How newsrooms can bridge the divide between technical and editorial teams Why newsrooms need to take a longitudinal approach to technology adoption The importance of involving audiences in technological innovation Lessons from journalism's digital transformation that apply to the AI era Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Upasna Gautam, Senior Platform Product Manger at CNN and Chair of the Board of Directors at the News Product Alliance, joins host Nikita Roy to discuss her framework for AI integration in newsrooms. In this episode, Gautam breaks down her three-question approach to AI implementation and shares insights from building CNN's content management platform Stellar. Through practical examples from CNN's journey and her work with newsrooms globally, Gautam offers a systematic framework for evaluating which AI opportunities are worth pursuing. Key topics include: How CNN operates like a tech company Three essential areas for AI in news: workflow orchestration, data integration, and content modularity Building trust with journalists by focusing on concrete benefits over technology hype Framework for evaluating AI opportunities that works for newsrooms of any size Transforming editorial teams into "mini PMs" who shape technology adoption Strategies for successful AI implementation in resource-constrained newsrooms Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Agnes Stenbom, Sweden’s AI Person of the Year and Head of IN/LAB and Trust Initiatives at Schibsted Media, joins host Nikita Roy to discuss how one of the Nordic region’s largest media groups is innovating with AI to reach underrepresented audiences and build trust in journalism. Stenbom is also an industry doctoral candidate researching AI in journalism and a co-founder of Nordic AI Journalism, a network advocating for the responsible use of AI in journalism across the Nordic region. In this episode, Stenbom highlights how Schibsted is leveraging AI to tackle news avoidance, experimenting with interactive formats, and navigating the challenges of responsible AI adoption in newsrooms. Key topics include: Using generative AI to create personalized, engaging formats such as rap-style news summaries Designing AI tools for audience interactivity, including news concierges and custom avatars Schibsted’s FAST framework for managing AI risks in fairness, accountability, sustainability, and transparency Ethical dilemmas and risk mitigation in using generative AI for journalism Insights on fostering newsroom culture to embrace technological innovation Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ritvvij Parrikh, Senior Director of Product at Times of India, joins host Nikita Roy to discuss how AI-powered personalization is transforming news distribution and why newsrooms need to rethink their approach to revenue optimization. Parrikh, who leads product development at India's largest English-language news organization, discusses their innovative approach to news personalization that increased click-through rates by 85% on web and 40% on mobile. His team developed a proprietary recommendation system that automatically optimized content distribution for individual readers. As an industry thought leader, Parrikh has been instrumental in demonstrating how newsrooms can build AI systems that balance editorial judgment with reader preferences while maintaining journalistic integrity. Key topics include: Building newsroom-specific recommendation systems that understand news cycles The critical importance of real-time data infrastructure for modern newsrooms Why newsrooms should master focus on building the operational infrastructures to power AI Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Martin Schori, Deputy Managing Editor and Associate Publisher at Aftonbladet, joins host Nikita Roy to discuss how Sweden’s largest newsroom built an AI hub, developing a wide range of innovative editorial tools, including a suite of AI-powered tools for the newsroom and a chatbot for the EU elections. As the Program Lead for the AI Hub, Schori shares the biggest wins, challenges, and key lessons from their experiments with AI in journalism. Key topics include: - The creation of Aftonbladet’s AI hub and its impact on editorial workflows - How Aftonbladet used AI to engage readers with an EU election chatbot - Analyzing coverage using AI to track gender and diversity representation - Ethical considerations and maintaining editorial control with AI tools Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special episode of Newsroom Robots, host Nikita Roy steps into the spotlight to answer your pressing questions about AI. Recorded during a session with the Online News Association (ONA), this episode covers a range of topics, from ethical considerations in AI-generated content to practical tools that can elevate your work. AI Tools Mentioned: Perplexity - A generative AI search engine that provides quick insights on any topic. Wobby - A data journalism tool that connects to open datasets, where you can ask questions in plain language and get clear AI-generated insights, reports, and visualizations OpusClip - Converts long-form videos into short, engaging clips for social media, ideal for repurposing content. YESEO - A Slack-based AI tool for generating headline suggestions and SEO metadata, widely used in local newsrooms. Google's Pinpoint - A tool for investigative journalists using AI to search through massive amounts of documents, including handwritten ones. Natural Reader - An AI tool that reads text aloud with natural-sounding voices, perfect for those who prefer listening over reading. Whimsical AI - Creates diagrams and visualizations from your data inputs directly within ChatGPT. Elicit & Consensus - AI-powered search engines for academic research, useful for journalists covering specialized beats like health and science. Nota - A versatile tool for creating SEO content, summarizing articles, and even converting articles into videos. GPT for Sheets and Docs , Claude for Sheets - These tools bring AI directly into your Google Docs and Sheets, enabling you to draft, edit, and generate insights without leaving your document or spreadsheet. If you're interested in learning more about how AI is being implemented in newsrooms, sign up to receive a series of case studies on AI and journalism, researched and written by Nikita in collaboration with the Online News Association. Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), co-chair of the U.S. Congressional AI Caucus and one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in AI, shares her perspective on the opportunities and risks of AI with host Nikita Roy. With over three decades of experience in the U.S. House of Representatives representing parts of Silicon Valley, Rep. Eshoo has been a leading voice on technology and its implications. Her long-standing engagement with tech policy provides a unique perspective on the current AI revolution. Key topics discussed in this episode include: The growing concern over AI models training on news content without compensation. The challenge of combating misinformation in the age of generative AI. Bipartisan efforts in Congress aimed at democratizing AI. Addressing the threat of job displacement and evolving societal frameworks to keep pace with rapid technological advancements. Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Natali Helberger, Professor of Law and Digital Technology at the University of Amsterdam, joins host Nikita Roy to explore the complex ethical landscape of AI in journalism. In this conversation, they discuss everything from recommendation algorithms and filter bubbles to the EU AI Act and the future of responsible AI adoption in media. Recognized as one of the "100 brilliant women in AI ethics" to follow worldwide, Helberger is also the co-founder of the AI Media and Democracy lab at the University of Amsterdam. Her research focuses on how AI and algorithms are transforming society and the media, with implications for law and governance. Helberger chairs the Council of Europe Expert Group on AI and Freedom of Expression and serves on the advisory board of the Reuters Institute for Journalism at Oxford. She regularly advises national and European policymakers, including the European Commission, European Parliament, and UNESCO. Key topics include: The ethical challenges of AI-driven personalization in news The importance of audience inclusion and feedback in AI systems for news The limitations of simply labeling content as "AI-generated" and the need for more meaningful transparency An analysis of the EU AI Act and its implications for media companies Sign up for the Newsroom Robots newsletter for episode summaries and insights from host Nikita Roy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.