Axios CEO Jim VandeHei told staffers in a memo on Friday that the company sees AI as the tool to power its “moonshot” to become “the most useful news organization in America” as he outlined how the company views the technology.
VandeHei told staffers that the news outlet ranked in the top 5% of its size in using the technology outside Silicon Valley, and it has seen boosts across business metrics due to AI while also keeping its journalism human-centered. “Experimentation is surging companywide. Productivity is way up,” he wrote.
“We believe we’re in a moment of blinding high velocity, with AI advancing so fast and so unpredictably that no one knows anything about the future with high levels of certainty,” he added. “It’s our job and promise to guide you along this journey.”
The Friday memo came days after Axios laid off 11 newsroom staffers as it began to see “how AI can help us automate some tasks” as humans focused on journalism, publisher Nicholas Johnston told staff.
Still, VandeHei said on Friday that there was much the company still didn’t know some of how the technology would change the media sector. He also said the technology would “cost or change” some jobs, noting Axios’ product, design and tech team was doing “twice the work with half the size of the team of two years ago” due to automation. That team laid off 19 staffers in November.
“We know companies will be structured and staffed differently in the future as tasks and functions are automated,” he wrote. “Axios is no different.”
But those uncertainties are mitigated by the company’s efforts to produce “high-quality, high-trust” journalism that boosts the value of the company’s expertise and how AI models trust its work. Axios struck a content licensing deal with OpenAI last year, and VandeHei said the company was discussing similar deals with other AI companies.
“We know the future of high-end media belongs to high-quality, exclusive information and insights produced by reporters with subject matter expertise and trust,” he wrote. “We’re investing heavily in this and will increase focus and spending on SMEs going forward.”
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