Artificial intelligence (AI) drives innovation at news organizations around the world. Journalists use algorithms to find patterns in data to inform investigations and identify breaking news. Automation enables more efficient news production. AI helps drive subscriptions and personalize news for consumers. Yet AI advantages are largely limited to larger, national and international media. Many small, locally focused newsrooms lack the resources and skills to understand the potential of AI and are afraid to commit to experiments without a clear payoff.
The Knight Foundation has funded an initiative to help local news organizations expand their use of AI, harnessing it for long-term sustainability. As part of this effort, The Associated Press and the Knight Lab are developing a scorecard for AI newsroom readiness. The benchmark will help news organizations determine whether they are ready to implement AI systems.
In this Knight Lab Studio project, students will work with AP’s technology leaders and Knight Lab to develop a framework for testing and assessing a newsroom's AI readiness. This includes researching best practices, interviewing those news outlets already using AI, and those who wish to. It also includes evaluating and recommending effective product designs for the scorecard to maximize its usage and performance.
Coding skills are not required to participate in this project.