Hi there,
More and more publications have me pondering whether AI will become smarter than humans, though most seem to agree it’s not the right question. I’ll explain why shortly.
A far more worn-out topic is how AI can help with your daily work. That one’s usually asked by someone trying to sell you their tool. Please don’t dig through older editions of this newsletter – I’ve likely done the same with smartocto.ai. But honestly, I’m getting a bit tired of seeing yet another LinkedIn post claiming 'this is how AI really works for you.'
The reality? AI is becoming something we take for granted – like the internet. It runs in the background, occasionally surfacing with clever solutions to problems. Or better yet: with answers to what we want, not just to problems. Our obsession with ‘problems’ is becoming a problem in itself.
Either way, I think we’re fast shedding our collective AI FOMO. It’s back to business, using apps, extensions and other tools to make tedious work easier or, inevitably, to create new work altogether.
One of the most practical ways smartocto has harnessed AI is through automated tagging based on our user needs model. This feature has enabled us to produce baseline reports at speed. And that has made a real impact. At Süddeutsche Zeitung, one of Germany’s most respected newspapers, the results prompted changes that had stubbornly resisted previous efforts. You’ll find more on that in this week’s client case.
AI helped us analyse over 20,000 articles in no time. But the meaning behind the data? That still calls for people: creativity, urgency, personality. The real question is: what do you do with those insights? That’s where our new webinar comes in. We’ll show you how to turn those insights into growth hacks for your newsroom.
So no, the AI vs human debate doesn’t really hold. It’s not a competition, we’re already working together. And that collaboration is already lifting us to a new level.
Even so, one thing hasn’t changed: the more you learn, the more you realise how little you know.
Baseline report sparks reflection and change
What makes Süddeutsche Zeitung such an interesting client is the sheer scale of the operation. No fewer than 500 journalists work at the highly respected German publication.
For the past year and a half, a part of the newsroom has been using the user needs approach. A dedicated team within the editorial department had been pushing the project forward, but tangible proof that the method was genuinely having an impact was still missing. And with an operation of that size, rallying everyone behind a new editorial strategy is no small feat.
Dominic Grzbielok, their Head of Paid Content, shares how a relatively straightforward report helped trigger some surprising and meaningful changes.
