Alma developed over 40 AI tools to support journalists’ work

AI is an essential part of everyday journalism at Alma Media. More than 40 editorial tools support journalists’ work, from newsgathering to publication.

The tools have been developed by Alma News Media’s internal AI team in close collaboration with journalists.

Ideas often come directly from newsroom needs: repetitive tasks, workflow bottlenecks or opportunities to improve quality. The goal is not technology for its own sake, but tools that solve real editorial challenges.

The overall goal is to let AI handle more repetitive work so that journalists have more time for reporting, judgement and original ideas.

Editorial responsibility always remains with the people in the newsroom.

The most popular tools include hit predictor and language buddy

The most popular tool is the hit predictor. It estimates the likely reader interest in a story. Journalists often use it several times while working on an article to compare different angles and headlines.

It can make a real difference by helping journalists identify more engaging angles and headlines. Journalists still make the final editorial decisions.

Language Buddy is the second most popular AI assistant. It checks spelling, clarity and style against the newsroom’s guidelines. It is integrated into the editorial system, so journalists can review its suggestions without copying text between services.

Audio Buddy handles the most time-consuming routine task

Audio Buddy converts interviews, press conferences and other recordings into text. Because manual transcription was one of journalism’s most time-consuming routine tasks, the tool allows journalists to focus sooner on key passages, fact-checking and reporting.

The translation tool is used daily by the foreign news team to process source material and follow developments in other languages.

Together, the translation and transcription tools currently generate the biggest time savings for foreign news journalists.

The foreign desk estimates that AI saves up to two hours per shift, freeing journalists to focus on the work they do best: interviewing, analysing and producing original reporting.

Latest addition is Newsradar which scans emails for news and alerts reporters.

How did we turn newsroom challenges into AI solutions?

Behind the toolkit is a combination of dedicated AI expertise, journalistic insight and a willingness to experiment. Rather than waiting for ready-made solutions, Alma has invested in building its own capabilities and continuously testing new ideas with journalists.

The result is more than 40 tools that support newsroom work every day and help journalists focus on what creates the most value: original reporting and editorial judgement.

The author is Timo Kämäräinen, AI Director of Alma News Media. Alma News Media business segment includes Finland’s largest digital news media Iltalehti, the leading financial news media Kauppalehti and other journalistic titles of Alma Media.

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