Creating the newspaper of the future: AINews

A consortium of four Fribourg stakeholders supported by Innosuisse, the Swiss innovation promotion agency, is developing a technical solution based on artificial intelligence and messaging applications in order to create the newspaper of the future.

New technologies are revolutionising the way in which readers access and consume information. The local press needs to innovate in order to meet the demands of its readers and face up to the competition posed by free information sites and social networks.

Personalisation of content based on artificial intelligence

AINews aims to incorporate artificial intelligence into conversational agent technology (chatbots) for the press. The use of artificial intelligence allows the content to be personalised for the reader, enables interaction with the reader through dialogue interfaces such as messaging applications, which are becoming increasingly popular with the general public, and also provides information to the editors of the newspaper so that they can tailor the editorial direction.

The project brings together iCoSys (Institute of Complex Systems) at the School of Engineering and Architecture Fribourg (HEIA-FR), the Institute for Digital Business at the School of Management Fribourg (HEG-FR), Djebots, a Fribourg-based company which specialises in the development of chatbot solutions, and the Fribourg daily paper La Liberté.

Innovating to keep pace with new ways of consuming information

Co-funded by Innosuisse, this project willl allow the Fribourg universities and Djebots to implement a cutting-edge digital solution which will eventually be used by La Liberté in order to keep pace with the digital revolution and new ways of consuming information. This will allow La Liberté to tailor its offer using cutting-edge technologies and explore new options to ensure reader loyalty.