News
MNA among first publishers to benefit from AI-led news service
The MNA has been among the first publishers to sign up for a news service pioneering the use of artificial intelligence.
Launched by the Press Association, Radar (Reporters and Data and Robots) has signed its first paying customers for content produced jointly by journalists and artificial intelligence.
The aim of the scheme is to help journalists scale up the production of local news stories. The creators say it has progressed from its test trials to a subscription-funded service.
The service received funding in 2017 from Google’s Digital News Initiative (DNI) Innovation Fund, a €150m commitment to stimulate and support innovation in digital journalism across Europe’s news industry.
Eight media companies have subscribed to the service since January, say PA.
Among Radar’s first subscribers are regional newspaper publishers Archant, Baylis Media, JPI Media, Iliffe Media and the MNA.
Radar’s team of six journalists write templated newsworthy stories from data produced by government departments and agencies, health services, police forces and other public bodies.
A bespoke production system is then used to localise the stories for more than 320 print, online publications and broadcast outlets.
MNA investigations editor Jack Averty explains: “Radar picks up the data released on gov.uk and by the Official for National Statistics (ONS) and generates local stories based off the figures.
“The stories they produce for us is everything from speeding and knife crime to house prices and A&E waiting times.”
