repackaging existing articles<\/a>. <\/p>\nStuart began to think about how newsrooms could use the technology to produce more and better stories, and fight back against the slop sites.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the best immediate thing we can do is to be much better about automation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
How Velora works<\/p>\n
An obvious first candidate for that automation is the content management systems (CMS) that most publishers use to get stories onto websites.<\/p>\n
Stuart argues that the repetitive tasks involved with uploading stories, such as selecting an image, adding alt text and inserting links, can drain time. <\/p>\n
With Velora Digital\u2019s platform, writers can instead send copy via Slack or email and the system will make it ready for publication.<\/p>\n
But the system can be used in all parts of the news production process, including flagging trends, sharpening angles and even writing drafts.<\/p>\n
A typical workflow for Stuart, as the solo editor of Velora Cycling, might start with an idea selected from the system\u2019s identified trends. He can then feed the concept into the system\u2019s features pipeline, which fleshes it out with background research and source validation, a process he said he and Bellion have fine-tuned to be in line with the desired output.<\/p>\n
From there, the platform can draft a full article, but Stuart can refine it, using both his knowledge of the subject and editorial nous to shape the story based on the assembled research.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that ultimately there\u2019s a huge amount of cynicism, quite rightly, about the idea that AI is now automating stuff to really low quality,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think the most important thing is the written content that\u2019s produced by this is strong content that adds something rather than leeching off what someone else has written.\u201d<\/p>\n
Velora\u2019s founders see an opportunity to push new boundaries in how stories are presented, harnessing AI to create interactive features. <\/p>\n
In the test case of cycling news, that could include visual elements that incorporate live data about events.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it came out and like, two or three months from now, it was identical to what is on the market, I would feel quite disappointed by that,\u201d Stuart said.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cI\u2019m only really interested if it genuinely offers something beyond what publishers are able to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Launching fast, learning fast<\/p>\n
Both Stuart and Bellion have only been working full-time on the project since the start of November but they have built all the tools themselves.<\/p>\n
They used models from all the major AI labs and tested them against each other to find the best fit for the various tasks.<\/p>\n
The features have been built \u201csuper quickly, very, very low cost\u201d Stuart said. The business hasn\u2019t yet sought any external investors.<\/p>\n
Potential revenue streams are programmatic advertising and affiliate links, as well as the anticipated future play of selling the tech to other publishers, but these will not be part of the initial launch.<\/p>\n
Stuart emphasised that the project was still a testing ground. He also recognised that any form of AI in journalism will face scepticism.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe key thing is that journalists are the ones that take ownership of how automation happens, rather than having publishers dictate [it],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk<\/a> to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our “Letters Page” blog <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Velora co-founders Peter Stuart and Danny Bellion A former editor of Cycling News has launched a new largely…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-308275","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-technology","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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