A Swedish newspaper is having AI rap its articles in an try to get younger folks within the information

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- Aftonbladet, a Swedish every day newspaper, is attempting to enchantment to younger folks.
- One experiment concerned AI-generated raps of stories.
It is no shock that as we speak’s younger persons are much less concerned about conventional information media than earlier generations, with social media platforms like Snapchat and TikTok vying for his or her consideration.
In response, Swedish every day newspaper Aftonbladet obtained inventive, utilizing AI to create rap songs that summarize the information and music to pair with written tales, the paper stated.
Aftonbladet examined the ideas earlier this month with 1,000 chosen younger customers. The preferred track was a rap about Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour, Aftonbladet reported.


“Bey is the queen of pop, she’s obtained the world on lock. From United States to Sweden she’s obtained the followers in shock,” an English-speaking robotic raps over a photograph of the singer. “Her present is a sensory overload. Our minds are absolutely saturated.”
Whereas the lyrics are a bit awkward and the manufacturing sounds prefer it was lifted from a fast-food jingle, the information does get throughout.
“Behind this somewhat cringey factor is a critical query: that younger folks do not admire how we as an trade current our information content material,” Aftonblade’s deputy editor-in-chief Martin Schori advised the Press Gazette.
“This will likely not precisely be the longer term — but it surely’s hopefully a enjoyable and interesting take a look at,” Schori added in his article concerning the take a look at.
Aftonbladet didn’t reply to Insider’s request for remark.
“Information as music,” because the pilot program was known as, got here out of a spotlight group of younger folks that sought to reimagine information consumption for youthful generations. Different ideas included an AI-driven information therapist and an algorithm that might shock readers with constructive information.
Aftonbladet acknowledged the murky ethics of AI-generated content material.
“The AI-generated rap can also be, as hip-hop tends to be, loaded with some values. This isn’t how we historically report information, the place as an alternative we attempt to report information neutrally,” Schori wrote.
The paper has an AI coverage in place, which permits journalists to make use of the expertise for varied components of their jobs, together with to create headlines, interview transcriptions, and video subtitles.
“Nonetheless, every little thing we publish is produced, edited and fact-checked by a human,” the coverage says. “Within the uncommon circumstances the place we publish AI-generated materials, this will likely be clearly acknowledged.”
Different information organizations have additionally begun experimenting with AI.
Buzzfeed introduced at first of this yr that it will use ChatGPT to generate quizzes and different content material. This month, at a web-based investor discussion board, the digital writer introduced that customers had been spending 40% extra time with AI-generated quizzes than human-made ones.
The change has occurred as Buzzfeed has undergone a number of rounds of layoffs, with the latest going down in April, when it shut down its information arm.
Know-how web site CNET, too, has used AI to provide content material, although it was pressured to challenge main corrections to AI-generated story earlier this yr.