– AI is being used in the newsroom by outlets like Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, and others
– Rio is an AI news anchor app designed to curate daily news briefings from trusted sources
– Rio aims to help users expand their understanding of topics and dive deeper into the news, while also avoiding an echo chamber effect.
AI is making its way into the newsroom, with outlets like Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, and Gizmodo experimenting with articles written by AI. Startups like Rio are joining in, offering an “AI news anchor” that helps readers connect with stories from trusted sources. Rio is developed by the team behind AI-powered audio journalism startup Curio and has received funding from Khosla Ventures and Chris Anderson of TED.
Rio scans headlines from reputable sources like Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal and curates daily news briefings that users can read or listen to. It seeks out news that expands understanding and avoids creating an echo chamber. Tests show that Rio presents news articles in a Story-like interface with graphics and links to full articles narrative by an AI voice.
The AI technology used by Rio does not fabricate information and only references content from trusted publishers. Users can interact with Rio through an AI chatbot interface, asking about various topics of interest. Co-founder Balakrishnan noted that Curio users had asked Rio over 20,000 questions, leading to the decision to develop it into a standalone app.
While it remains to be seen if Rio will become a standalone product, it may pave the way for similar interfaces on larger news platforms. Other startups like Particle and Bulletin are also using AI to enhance the news reading experience. Rio is currently in early access, with plans to launch publicly later in the summer.