Politico’s risky Pro service will launch new AI tool

Ladle

Politico is launching a strategic partnership with a Y Combinator-backed AI startup to develop a custom AI tool that will quickly summarize its journalism.

In an announcement first shared with Semaphore, Politico and Capitol AI said they have formed a partnership to develop a tool for subscribers of Politico Pro, the outlet’s premium subscription platform that provides in-depth coverage of policy, state and federal legislation, and congressional committee hearings. . The new artificial intelligence tool, which will be available later this year, will aim to help users quickly combine information from Politico and Politico Pro content to instantly create comprehensive reports on topics.

“Capitol AI is coming off the YC Summer 24 series with fantastic reception, and its partnership with Politico demonstrates the value publishers can deliver when they embrace the future of content rather than burying their heads in the sand,” said CEO Garry Tan. Y Combinator said the following in the statement it first shared with Semafor.

Both companies emphasized that the tool is based entirely on Politico reporting and should serve as an additional product for Pro users. During a demonstration for Semaphore of a version of the product that will eventually be built within Politico Pro, Capitol AI CEO Shaun Modi demonstrated how the tool highlights quotes from Politico journalism.

“This isn’t about automating journalism; it’s about empowering the end user — the lobbyist, the government affairs person at Uber, at SpaceX, at Airbnb — to better understand what’s happening in Washington, what regulations are coming, and make business decisions quickly.” “Instead of reviewing huge amounts of invoice text, you can submit a prompt and our productive model will sift through this wealth of information from Politico and give you a report,” Modi said.

The move is the latest partnership between a news publisher and an AI company, but it’s unconventional in one important way: The idea is to build a product specifically for Politico and create relevance for existing Politico Pro subscribers, rather than licensing Politico’s content to help its users use it. increase. or train an external AI model. The tool will be hosted within the Politico Pro dashboard.

Afterwards first hesitation About AI Politico’s parent company, Axel Springer, has enthusiastically embraced large language model technology. The company will operate in 2023 announced A deal with OpenAI that will generate “tens of millions” in revenue by allowing OpenAI to use Politico and Business Insider content to train models and deliver responses to user prompts via ChatGPT.

The Politico Pro partnership is separate, but Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner is encouraging subsidiaries to explore how to develop and use artificial intelligence in media organizations, Politico vice president and general manager Rachel Loeffler said in a phone interview last week. Politico earlier this year rolled AI-generated billing statements for Pro subscribers.

“We really see AI as the next phase of digital transformation, so we are committed to figuring out how to leverage the power of AI along with our goals and values,” Loeffler said.