Newsroom Robots

• Olle Zacharison: How BBC News is Shaping its AI Strategy for the Next Era of Journalism

  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 our 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.In this episode, we cover:03:39 – The BBC’s four-part AI strategy: Boosting productivity, reformatting content, augmenting journalism, and innovating user experience as the core themes05:10 – 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 formats20:59 – Innovating user experiences with synthetic audio and conversational formats31:59 – How the BBC uses strategic themes, clear metrics, and fast pilots to decide what’s worth building and scaling46:59 – Inside the BBC’s fine-tuned LLM and Style Assist52:01 – What it means to be a public broadcaster in an AI-driven ecosystem01:02:58 – Olle’s personal AI stackSign 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.

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• Vilas Dhar: Why the Future of Journalism Is Still Human

  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 profit02:17 – The three-part framework for ethical AI: Responsible data, clear boundaries, and transparency as actionable principles07:08 – 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 trust13:30 – Navigating ethical dilemmas around AI-generated content13:51 – The three phases of newsroom AI adoption18:54 – Why "we're not a tech company" no longer works23:12 – Organizational reckoning in an 18-month transformation cycle25:23 – Why smaller, targeted models and collective action matter more than massive systems29:14 – Fighting misinformation with AI34:13 – What journalism is missing compared to other industries37:01 – The evolving role of human creativity and agency39:33 – The McGovern Foundation's North Star44:23 – How Vilas uses AI personallySign 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.

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• Ludwig Siegele: Inside The Economist’s AI Playbook

  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 journey01:31 – How AI experimentation began at The Economist03:26 – Overcoming newsroom fear of ChatGPT04:53 – Building AI infrastructure and upskilling staff07:10 – The tools and vendor partnerships powering experiments08:29 – Why adoption is harder than building tools12:10 – Translation, research, and NotebookLM as newsroom game changers16:06 – How automation could reshape the journalist’s role18:41 – Launching The Economist AI Lab24:11 – Audience-facing AI experiments (TikTok dubbing, Espresso app, SCOTUS bot)26:05 – Partnering with Google NotebookLM while protecting the brand30:02 – Scraping, monetization, and the future of publisher revenue33:41 – Measuring ROI on AI initiatives37:40 – The biggest barriers to newsroom AI adoption39:14 – How Ludwig uses AI personally in art and culture40:40 – Closing reflectionsSign 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.

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• Ivar Krustok: How Estonia’s Media Giant Builds AI That Actually Works

  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.

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• Djordje Padejski: Why AI Literacy Belongs at the Core of Journalism Education

  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.

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