Launching News Product AI Collaboration Lab: Bridging the gap between local community needs and journalism products
Collaborative brainstorm session at the NPA Forum in May 2024, photo by AX Mina
We’re thrilled to announce the expansion of News Product AI Collaboration Lab [NPAI Co-Lab] in partnership with the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. This initiative aims to leverage AI to tackle one of the most pressing challenges facing the news industry: better understanding and engaging audiences to build sustainable news organizations.
The media industry is facing yet another crucial juncture. While the shifting landscape presents threats, it also presents an immense opportunity for the news industry to take the lead and shape ethical, practical AI applications that improve civic engagement and community connection, rather than waiting for solutions from tech companies with other priorities in mind.
The NPAI Co-Lab is still in its early stages and while the specifics around the what and the how are still being defined, the goal is to work collaboratively with industry stakeholders — including product leaders from small and non-profit newsrooms, universities, JSOs, engagement specialists, and other experts — to focus on specific AI applications to leverage first-party data and create an open, neutral space for sharing ideas and tools that are key to successful journalism businesses.
This effort isn’t solely about building and adopting new technology — it’s an opportunity to demonstrate a collaborative way of working together across the news ecosystem to maximize our resources, and accelerate product innovation. That’s why we’re taking a constellation approach — a term coined by group member and Knight Chair Jeremy Gilbert — of supporting a network of interconnected pilot projects to test and bring together the best ideas. By building in the open and sharing our learnings, synthesis, and refinement of AI applications, we can deliver an open-source repository of tools and resources, develop shared ethical standards, minimize duplicated efforts, and drive better outcomes for all.
Just as Product teams do within media organizations, the News Product Alliance (NPA) will play a pivotal role as a connector, collaborator, and accelerator to help the news industry explore AI solutions that meet real audience needs at scale and expand access to that knowledge.
What’s Next for the News Product AI Collaboration Lab?
We’ll be hiring a product manager to support this initiative. This role will drive the program forward, guiding pilot projects and ensuring the NPAI Co-Lab fulfills its mission of creating practical, ethical AI tools for newsrooms. If you’re a product leader who believes in the potential of AI in journalism, we want to hear from you.
How You Can Get Involved
If you represent a news organization, or a university, or are an individual interested in contributing to this initiative, we’d love to hear from you. We’re actively seeking partners for pilot projects, student developers, and individual contributors who can offer technology services, mentorship, or resources. This is your chance to help shape the future of news and AI—together and transparently.
To express your interest in participating, please fill out this form. We’re eager to collaborate with a diverse group of partners and look forward to building something truly transformative for our industry.
Special Thanks
The NPAI Co-Lab was created in collaboration with the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. It is an expansion of the NPA’s AI working group brought together by Giovanni Moujaes as a result of conversations started at the NPA Forum in May. We want to give a special thank you to the NPA community members who launched this initiative, many of whom we know will continue to play an active role in its success: Jeremy Gilbert, Joe Germuska, Jonathan Keen, Sapna Satagopan, Ben Werdmuller, and Ariel Zirulnick.
About the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation (PJMF) is a philanthropic organization dedicated to advancing artificial intelligence and data science solutions to create a thriving, equitable, and sustainable future for all. PJMF works in partnership with public, private, and social institutions to drive progress on our most pressing challenges, including digital health, climate change, broad digital access, and data maturity in the social sector.
