AI-FLUENT Podcast

Alan Soon, Co-founder of Singapore-based Splice Media: What Do We Get Out of Good Journalism and Why Should We Pay for It?

If journalism is valuable, as many of us think, why don't people pay for it? That's the question Alan returned to several times during our conversation. And he actually gave the answer, an existential answer to this question.
What's the purpose of your newsroom? Why do you exist as a media organisation? What audience needs do you serve? If you are able to answer these questions honestly without any corporate fluff, you come closer to answering the money question: why should people pay for your content?
'We have gone past peak content', Alan says. Nobody wakes up in the morning wanting more content - people want to get stuff done, they want a sense of community, they want to learn something new, they want to have fun etc. The problem is, as Alan points out, that many newsrooms still operate as if people wake up wanting more content for the sake of content. Wake up!
Main Topics We Discussed in This Episode:
How AI Enables Media Solopreneurs
Supply versus Demand Side Thinking: How Does It Work in Journalism?
How to Use AI to Get a Deeper Understanding of What Audiences Want
No One Wakes Up in the Morning Wanting More Content - Why Do We Create So Much of It Then?
What Is a Better Use of AI-powered Tools, Apart from Creating Content?
How to Stand Out in a Crowded Content Market Wherever You Are
We All Pay for Stuff and Services, Why Not for News?
"What People Buy Is Very Different from What People Get, or What People Want"
Creativity versus Recycling Old Narratives
AI and the Nature of Originality
How to Measure AI Impact on Revenue Generation, Audience Engagement and Credibility
Where Does Obsession with Optimising Everything Lead Us?
AI as a Co-thinker and Co-founder of Your Potential Start-up
Lifehack from Alan on Using AI in the Context of Storytelling
On the Future of Journalism

Claudia Báez from Colombia’s Cuestión Pública on how to stay ahead of the game in investigative journalism

You can investigate serious corruption cases, but it doesn't mean that the way you talk about it to your audience should be super serious and boring. What if you come up with an AI-powered avatar that uses facts checked by human journalists, yet speaks to the audience in a sarcastic voice as an assistant rather than a know-it-all expert?
Claudia Báez, a digital innovator and co-founder of the Colombian investigative website Cuestión Pública, thinks that investigative journalism should by no means be delivered in a way that is appealing only to men in suits over 40.
She created an AI-powered tool - Odín - to help her team of journalists stay relevant to the current news agenda, reach different audiences, and, of course, save time and money.
I talked to Claudia about this and much more, so maybe you, as a storyteller anywhere in the world, can be inspired and apply some of these insights in your everyday professional life.
Main topics we discussed in this episode:
Why Odín and how does this AI-powered tool help the team of Cuestión Pública stay relevant to audiences in Colombia?
What's the most important question regarding AI we should ask ourselves first?
What are the challenges investigative journalists face in Colombia, and how does technology help them solve some of those problems?
Investigative journalism doesn't have to be delivered in a serious and often boring way. Generative AI gives us many opportunities to experiment with formats aimed at different audiences.
On trust and transparency, and why journalists need to collaborate
Claudia’s favourite AI tools with examples from Spain, Argentina and Venezuela
On the future of journalism

Code for Africa’s Chris Roper and Amanda Strydom on AI, disinformation and the future of journalism

In this episode, I am talking to Chris Roper, Deputy CEO of Code for Africa and Amanda  Strydom, Senior Programme Manager for CivicSignal, a programme within Code for Africa, which maps and offers insights into media ecosystems in Africa using research and machine learning tools. We talked about how the newsrooms they work with apply AI in their professional life. What are the AI-related issues that African newsrooms are truggling with and what kind  of solutions are they coming up with?
Code for Africa is also well-known for their work in tackling mis- and disinformation.  Chris and Amanda talk about different ways their organisation is helping African journalists to fight disinformation in a foundational way and what’s the role of AI in it.
Main topics we’ve discussed in this episode:
-The role of AI in helping journalists and citizens tackle mis/disinformation
-Generational differences in perceiving misinformation 
-Ethical policies of using AI in a newsroom: how to approach them
-Who owns your data which you share with AI tools
-The environmental effect of AI
-Life hacks from Chris and Amanda: how to use AI in a storytelling context 
-The future of AI and how it will shape the future of journalism 
-Does AI create more inequality in the Global South 
-What help journalists can get from Code for Africa and how they can collaborate with the organisation 
-AI-related regulations and laws: the ideal and real scenarios
-The importance of AI tools in investigative journalism 
-Exciting AI projects Chris and Amanda are working on  now 

AI-FLUENT WITH ILONA VINOGRADOVA TRAILER

AI-Fluent is my new podcast where I talk with storytellers from around the world about journalism and storytelling in all its shapes and forms, its marriage with AI and other technology, and innovative thinking.
Most of my guests are from the Global South, so it's a rare opportunity to listen to people with different perspectives, different challenges, and solutions they have to offer. New episode every Friday