In July 2023, the American Journalism Project launched its Product & AI Studio to explore the smart application of generative AI and other technology within local news. This Studio, made possible by OpenAI with additional support from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, is sharing regular updates of its learnings.
Overview: THE CITY, a nonprofit newsroom based in New York City, received support from the Studio in December 2023 to focus on audience engagement, sift through online information, answer New Yorkers’ questions, and receive tips from readers. Here’s an update on their progress so far:
Living in a city like New York can sometimes feel overwhelming. From figuring out rent regulations to navigating the criminal justice system, the 8.5 million residents of the five boroughs have many questions about how to live, survive, and thrive. That’s where THE CITY steps in, offering guides and tools to help New Yorkers navigate these complex issues and make sense of the greatest city in the world.
THE CITY was founded in 2019 with a mission to hold power to account through high-impact accountability reporting and helpful service journalism. In 2023, they used AI to map what parts of the city their stories covered and test whether they’re living up to their goal of covering underserved communities. This project earned them a spot as a finalist for this year’s Online Journalism Awards in the Excellence in AI Innovation category. They learned about both the power and the limitations of ChatGPT, and were pleasantly surprised to discover just how many neighborhoods their coverage touches while spotting areas where they could do more. Now, THE CITY is testing two new AI-powered tools designed to make it more responsive to community members’ questions and suggestions: AskNellie and TipBot.
AskNellie: A personalized NYC guide
THE CITY’s website currently has an, “Ask Nellie” form where readers can submit questions. The new version is an AI-powered assistant that pulls from THE CITY’s extensive How-To-New York library to answer questions quickly and easily. From flood insurance to upcoming elections or rent regulations, AskNellie can provide readers with links to highly credible researched and reported stories that provide practical help and build trust in THE CITY’s broader offering.
THE CITY has a pigeon mascot named Nellie. It was named after Nellie Bly, a 19th-century journalist who wrote an exposé for New York World after being institutionalized. The pigeon won the name in a public vote, beating out other finalists including Paloma, Carrier, and Bly and Nellie Fly.
Here’s how AskNellie works:
- THE CITY’s guides and resources are converted into a searchable database, making it easy to find the most relevant information.
- When a user types a question, AskNellie uses advanced AI to clean up their input, ensuring it’s ready for an effective search.
- The question is matched with the database to find the top three most relevant results.
THE CITY’s team is currently finishing the last stages of development, with plans to complete the response generator and front-end components in the next couple of weeks. They’re also preparing for extensive user testing to ensure that the experience is accurate and editorially aligned.
TipBot: News tips made easy
TipBot is designed to help New Yorkers share important information with THE CITY’s newsroom by incorporating large language models to classify and identify gaps in news tips and seamlessly gather information from tipsters. Developed with support from the Brown Institute for Media Innovation at Stanford University, TipBot’s aim is to give each voice the best chance to be heard by prompting for missing information, and makes it easier to report tips like potential landlord violations, local government issues, or positive community initiatives.
Here’s how TipBot works:
- Using TipBot, readers can submit a tip just like they normally would, via an online interface.
- TipBot identifies key components of the tip, and responds to the tipster with follow up questions, specific to the tip information provided and pre-written prompts specific to the beats covered by the newsroom, to ensure that the tipster provides sufficient all necessary details are included.
- Completed tips are saved and reviewed by THE CITY editors, who can then assign them to reporters for further investigation.
- Based on preliminary user feedback, the team is exploring the use of both chat and email UI for TipBot. Additional user research is planned to assess which interactions result in the best outcomes for tipsters, reporters, and readers.
TipBot is designed to make the tip-sharing process smooth and efficient, helping editors make better decisions on if a tip is truly newsworthy and freeing up their reporters to focus on the most critical aspects of the investigation. It also ensures that your tips are thoroughly documented and ready for review.
What’s next?
Both AskNellie and TipBot are in the final stages of development, with the front-end components expected to be in an internal beta test this fall. After that, THE CITY will conduct thorough testing to better understand whether these tools help readers find the information they need, and ensure that their valuable tips are heard and acted upon by the newsroom.
We’ll continue to share updates like this on the Product & AI Studio page. Follow us on Medium to be notified of new posts, or drop us a line at AJPStudio@theajp.org.
