The Global Editors Network (GEN) kicked off the 7th annual GEN Summit in Vienna this Wednesday, June 21st, gathering over 750 editors-in-chief and media innovators from over 70 countries. The theme of the year is From Post-Truth to Virtual Reality: Navigating Media’s Future. The Summit is divided into daily themes – the first day started with disruption, the second was about innovation and the last one will focus on cooperation. Laurent Lasserre, our Country Director of France, is attending the summit and gave us his insights into the hottest topics and takeaways from the first day of the conference:
“While the first day was dedicated to disruption, I feel that artificial intelligence was at the heart of the discussion – how journalists can use AI to increase the amount of coverage and engagement generated from that coverage, but also how technology can be used to do the heavy lifting and actually improve human creativity. As David Aladente, Managing Editor for El País said: “It can help journalists go into different perspectives, but the story is still about journalism. A journalist is never replaceable.” This first day highlighted the fact that journalists’ roles are changing, and how AI can help them to adapt to these new roles and keep up with the news cycle.
AI is here to solve specific issues that are challenging. For example, when Associated Press realized their team was devoting a lot time to produce earnings reports, they decided to collaborate with Automated Insights in order to transform data to written stories. With the help of automation, they went from being able to report on the earnings of 400 companies to 4000 companies, and freed up about 20% of reporter time on the business desk.”
We’re excited to be a part of this Summit and to learn more from the industry’s leading innovators. If you’re attending the GEN Summit, make sure to introduce yourself to Laurent to learn how automation can be used to support your video strategy!