Aftonbladet is ready for the AI revolution
New technology is just that. Technology. It’s when it’s in the hands of humans that it becomes transformative. People at Aftonbladet made it happen 30 years ago. And people will make it happen now, in the age of AI.
By Lena K Samuelsson
Aftonbladet is ready for the AI revolution
New technology is just that. Technology. It’s when it’s in the hands of humans that it becomes transformative. People at Aftonbladet made it happen 30 years ago. And people will make it happen now, in the age of AI.
By Lena K Samuelsson
Aftonbladet, the largest news destination in the Nordics, engages four million Swedes every day. They come to find out what happened, to understand why and to spend time with our content on news, sports, entertainment, food and lifestyle. They read, watch, listen and interact with us in a digital universe that has grown, flourished and developed over the years. A universe that also expands beyond Aftonbladet when younger audiences engage with our brand and news reporting on social media and through Google.
Embracing new technologies and channels in the service of journalism is what has moved Aftonbladet and Schibsted forward for decades, to the world-leading position in digital media we hold today. It has been quite a journey. Now, generative AI has taken centre stage, with full force. It will change us fundamentally. It is a new era. And it feels like 1994 all over again.
Phones were for talking
1994. The few who even had a mobile phone back then sported an Ericsson, Nokia or Motorola with an antenna. And phones were for talking. Yeltsin was the president of Russia, Clinton was still in his early days as president of the US. That autumn, the passenger ferry Estonia would sink on a stormy night in the Baltic Sea. Pulp Fiction and The Lion King were new movies. Jennifer Aniston starred as Rachel in the first episode of Friends, and we watched OJ Simpson flee from police on live TV.
I was on a trip to the States in the spring of 1994 when Aftonbladet “discovered” the internet. We were on a study tour to New York and then down to Atlanta. And that’s where it happened. But the truth is, on that particular day, we split up. My colleague and I visited the hottest new thing: CNN. The others, including Kalle Jungkvist, later the legendary first editor-in-chief of aftonbladet.se, visited the Poynter Institute and Atlanta Chronicle and Journal. And that’s where Aftonbladet discovered the internet.
Aftonbladet’s AI hub.
Aftonbladet’s AI hub.
Right from the start, it was clear that there were two exciting paths to take: News – like us, and classifieds – the marketplaces for buying and selling.
That same autumn, Aftonbladet went online, one of the first media houses in the world to do so. It was an act of curiosity, vision and maybe a little bit of madness.
What started out as a small group of open-minded people with different skills and experiences working together, experimenting and testing, would one day grow into a full organisation, forming the Aftonbladet Universe we know today. It was also the start of an ecosystem of media, marketplaces and other digital consumer services under the Schibsted brand. But that’s a story for another day.
Connected around the clock
No one could fully understand at the time how the internet would reshape the entire media business and our daily lives. No one knew that we would all carry incredibly powerful computers in our hands – and on our wrists – and that we would be connected around the clock. No one had heard of screen time, SEO or CTR. We couldn’t begin to comprehend the magnitude of the change.
But we knew it was something completely new. It was computers and code. But Aftonbladet turned the technology into a tool, helping us to create entirely new experiences around our journalism, multiply the number of readers and finally crack the code for business and payment. And in doing so, we managed to secure a unique digital position in the everyday lives of the Swedish people.
Aftonbladet’s breaking news desk.
Aftonbladet’s breaking news desk.
2008. The web had challenged the business model of the print newspaper – a packaged product, sold at a specific time, to people who went out to the store to buy it. Now everyone could access Aftonbladet from home or work via their PC, around the clock.
Journalism had become accessible – and largely free. But when Steve Jobs stood on stage in a black polo in the summer of 2007 and introduced the iPhone, the printed evening paper was fundamentally challenged. Suddenly, readers were no longer tied to a computer; they could have Aftonbladet with them in their pocket or bag, anywhere, anytime.
Suddenly, readers were no longer tied to a computer; they could have Aftonbladet with them in their pocket or bag, anywhere, anytime.
And the rest is, as they say, history.
Aftonbladet realised faster than most that this was a groundbreaking shift. When the iPhone was launched in Sweden in 2008, a small group of people with experience, passion and knowledge from different parts of Aftonbladet – editorial, IT and business – took up the fight for the small screen, facing off with an already strong web organisation and a still very powerful print newspaper. Today, most people read us on their mobile phones, and still, we are stronger than others because we were quick to embrace the new technology and use it in the service of journalism. What was once a small team that challenged from within is now core business.
Today. With AI available to everyone, a new era begins. AI is clearly not a new channel, like the web or the mobile. It’s not a new product either. But it’s a technological shift that will change us fundamentally. With generative AI comes many challenges, but also immense opportunities for those who dare and who manage to go first.
Aftonbladet celebrates winning Stora journalistpriset 2000 in the category New Media.
Aftonbladet celebrates winning Stora journalistpriset 2000 in the category New Media.
In many ways, we have moved past digitalisation; we are almost through it. Now it’s about transforming our digital self. Ensuring that Aftonbladet stands strong when we take the final steps from a newspaper online to a true online company with its heart and soul in journalism. A true online news site will be something else. Text, sound and video will merge into new user experiences, consumers will choose how they want to interact with us – rather than just be fed with a feed. Journalism will move beyond the traditional news destination and build more on relation to a brand and profiles. Content will to a much higher degree be personalised. The composition of an article and the presentation will cut its final ties to the print newspaper. Short versions and summaries will become core content, not add-ons. And storytelling will find new paths.
And, at this very moment in our journey, AI steps in. We don’t know where this is going to take us. We can’t foresee how AI will transform society or us. But we know it is something new. And we are, as always, curious.
Generative AI will create entirely new conditions for our industry. The one who is quickest to understand and use the new technology will have a huge advantage. Media houses that dive into AI, that unsentimentally examine all their processes and become much better at taking care of both users and customers, will stand strong. Many others will not.
It’s about a culture that embraces data, personalisation and algorithms, making technology our strongest ally in the service of journalism.
A powerful tool
AI can become a powerful tool for free and independent journalism and for Aftonbladet, as a true digital company, to be more sustainable, more efficient and even smarter.
AI can also become a tool for disinformation and hate. We will investigate and report on this; we will use AI-empowered journalism as a counterforce. We will help our readers understand the societal shift we are now entering. And we must understand it ourselves. It might be frightening. But it’s also incredibly exciting.
So, here we go again! It’s time for Aftonbladet to turn things upside down. And today we do it together in Schibsted, a group that is world-leading in digitalising its media houses and already has many AI initiatives and specialised common teams.
To genuinely build an Aftonbladet that utilises the full power of generative AI, we have put together a small group of people who are passionate about new things. No one is an expert when it comes to what we don’t know. So, these individuals have different skills and experiences. They come from the newsroom, sports, print, product, pod, tech and UX. They will challenge us, experiment and test stuff, along with our users. And they will slowly change us from within. As always.
Because new technology in the hands of inspired people is transformative. That’s the Aftonbladet Way.
(And yes, this text was written with the assistance of my new friend Chat.)
Lena K Samuelsson
Publisher Aftonbladet & founder of Schibsted Future Report
Years in Schibsted: 27
My favourite song the last decade: Shallow – Lady Gaga & Bradley Coop