Newsroom Robots

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 Ne...

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 C...

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 Journali...

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 increa...

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...

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 engin...

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...

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" t...

Garance Burke, a global investigative journalist at the Associated Press, joins host Nikita Roy to discuss the crucial role of journalism in holding AI systems accountable and the challenges reporters face in covering this complex topic.  Burke, a global investigative journalist with The Associated Press, has been at the forefront of investigating the power and impact of AI technologies on so...

Ole Reissmann, Director of AI at Der Spiegel, joins host Nikita Roy to discuss how the legacy German news organization is harnessing AI to enhance their journalism and streamline newsroom workflows. The episode explores Der Spiegel's initiatives to integrate AI into various aspects of its operations, from automating routine tasks like SEO title generation and fact-checking to developing audience-f...

Jaemark Tordecilla, Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, joins host Nikita Roy to discuss the potential of using custom GPTs for journalistic purposes. Jaemark is the former editor-in-chief and senior assistant vice president of News and Public Affairs at GMA News, the Philippines' leading digital news organization.   For the past year as a Nieman Fellow, Jaemark has been pushing the bou...

Adrian Gill, the founder and CEO of Ad Hoc Industries and the former creative director of the Harvard Innovation Labs, joins host Nikita Roy to explore the transformative impact of AI, especially image generation tools, on the creative design industry. Gill brings a wealth of knowledge in creative direction, strategy, and brand management from his career, which includes serving as the Vice Preside...

Mattia Peretti, former manager of Journalism AI at the London School of Economics and current Knight Fellow at the International Center for Journalists, joins host Nikita Roy to share insights on balancing AI innovation with journalistic integrity. The episode explores an AI literacy initiative at Internews, which created a platform for knowledge exchange and significantly improved the organizatio...

Florent Daudens, the outgoing Director of Newsgathering and Deployment at Canada's National Public Broadcaster, Radio-Canada, joins Nikita Roy to share how he led AI literacy initiatives in their newsroom. In his role, Florent focused on enhancing the news department with AI as well as managing operations across national, parliamentary, and foreign bureaus. With a passion for AI and technology tre...

Ezra Eeman, the Director of Strategy & Innovation at the Dutch Public Broadcaster NPO joins Nikita Roy to discuss NPO's AI strategy, revealing the complexities of navigating this frontier within a decentralized network of 13 broadcasters. From leveraging AI for accessibility and efficiency to cautious experiments with synthetic voices and avatars, NPO's approach offers a fascinating case study...

Craig Newmark, internet pioneer and founder of Craigslist, joins Nikita Roy to talk about the past, present, and future of AI.  Craig is a visionary whose profound contributions have shaped the landscape of digital platforms and supported the pillars of journalism.  As the founder of Craigslist, he revolutionized the classified ads sector and transformed how people buy, sell, and connect...

From fine-tuning large language models, to discussing modular journalism, to developing an AI tool to help track misinformation, there’s a lot to unpack from this week’s conversation with Alessandro Alviani, the product lead for AI at Germany’s Ippen Digital. We build upon the  first part  of our conversation from last week, where Alessandro shared his editor-centric approach toward buil...

Rather than AI replacing journalists, Alessandro Alviani believes editorial teams can leverage AI to enhance and augment their work.  Formerly as the Editorial Director at the Microsoft News Hub, Alessandro experienced firsthand the consequences that replacing human editors with automated systems caused. Drawing from his experience he says that the key is to empower journalists with AI tools...

Jeff Jarvis joins Nikita Roy in the second part of his conversation to discuss how journalism business models will be affected by the rise of generative AI. In part one, Jarvis shared his thoughts on whether generative AI companies should be allowed to use news media's copyrighted content to train their AI models. Jarvis has been the director of the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism...

Jeff Jarvis joins Nikita Roy to discuss whether AI companies should be allowed to use news media's copyrighted content to train their models.  Jarvis is a veteran journalist and professor who recently testified to the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and Law on AI and the Future of Journalism. He's been the director of the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journali...

Aliya Itzkowitz and Sam Gould from FT Strategies join Nikita Roy to discuss the capabilities of multimodal AI and AI agents within the publishing industry. Discover further insights and practical examples of these technologies in the Newsroom Robots newsletter , featuring insights from host, Nikita Roy. Aliya is a Manager at FT Strategies where she has consulted over 30 publishers across Europe, A...

Aliya Itzkowitz and Sam Gould from FT Strategies join Nikita Roy to discuss their AI Design Sprint that they used to help nearly 20 publishers identify and validate potential AI opportunities.  Aliya is a Manager at FT Strategies where she has consulted over 30 publishers across Europe, Asia, Africa and North America. Her work focuses on the critical shifts facing publishers today, including...

Nina Brown and Jared Schroeder join Nikita Roy to break down the intellectual property implications of generative AI models and explore the legal implications of using generative AI in newsrooms.  They examine the risks and liabilities associated with Generative AI outputs and historical legal precedents that could shape Generative AI regulations. Nina Brown is an award-winning assistant prof...

Felicitas Carrique, Executive Director of the News Product Alliance joins Nikita Roy to discuss the key components of building a successful AI product strategy in newsrooms. She also discusses the role of AI in the product development process and offers insights on evaluating AI tools and vendors. As the Executive Director of the News Product Alliance she has built a community of support and pract...

How does a newsroom leader spearhead AI innovation when AI still remains a buzzword to much of their staff?  Louise Story joins Nikita Roy to highlight the opportunities AI presents for reporting, content creation, user experience, and personalization. Story also discusses the role of journalists in the AI era and the potential impact of generative AI on the business model of the news industr...