Newsrooms have been experimenting with AI for several years, but for the most part, those efforts have been nothing more than experiments. Symbolic.ai, a relatively unknown startup, wants to change that and has just signed a major deal with Rupert Murdoch’s media conglomerate News Corp.
News Corp., whose major assets include MarketWatch, the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal, will begin using Symbolic’s AI platform on its financial news hub Dow Jones Newswires.
Symbolic.ai, founded by former eBay CEO Devin Wenig and Ars Technica co-founder John Stokes, says its AI platform can “support the production of high-quality journalism and content” and that its tools have even led to “productivity increases of as much as 90% on complex investigative tasks.” The platform is designed to make editorial workflows more efficient, offering improvements in areas such as newsletter creation, audio transcription, fact-checking, “headline optimization” and SEO advice.
In general, News Corp is keen to integrate AI into its media operations. In 2024, the company entered into a multi-year partnership with OpenAI to license its materials to AI companies. Last November, the media conglomerate signaled it was considering expanding its business and licensing its material to other AI companies.
