Newsroom leaders seeking help on all things AI have a new, much-needed resource: a directory of expert trainers, coaches and consultants to draw from.
After realizing that many news outlets are trying to better understand AI and integrate it into their work, but don’t know where to start, ICFJ Knight Fellow Mattia Peretti decided to build the directory. He invited his former colleagues at JournalismAI to help create it in collaboration with ICFJ. We hope you will check out the directory and share.
The directory is one of several projects that Mattia is working on during his ICFJ Knight Fellowship to address the opportunities for reinventing journalism spurred by new technologies. Mattia, the former manager of JournalismAI at the London School of Economics, is also bringing together a mini think tank of people who want to be part of reimagining the role journalism can play in society.
In a recent piece for IJNet, ICFJ’s resource center for journalists, he wrote that his original guiding question for his fellowship project – “How can journalists use AI to better serve their communities?” – wasn’t quite right.
What matters most, he realized, is not the AI. It is how to listen better to communities – and to see if AI tools can address their desires and problems more effectively: “We should focus ruthlessly on our users and their needs. Asking people what they want and need, and really listening to what they have to say.”
With AI as a catalyst, this user-focused approach could transform journalism.
Mattia invites others to join him in this movement. “I want us to get AI right together, stop playing catch-up, and use it as a tool to look forward instead.” If you are interested in collaborating, reach out to him at mperetti@icfj.org.