In 2025, NetInfo participated in the AI Launchpad programme led by Google and the FT Strategies, exploring practical ways artificial intelligence can support modern editorial workflows. The initiative brought together media organisations from multiple markets to test how AI can improve efficiency while maintaining editorial standards.
Rather than treating AI as a standalone tool, the programme encouraged a broader transformation. Editorial automation was approached as an organisational challenge, not just a technical one. The focus shifted from experimenting with individual features to building systems that could support real newsroom workflows at scale.
As part of this work, NetInfo developed an internal newsfeed generator that aggregates updates from multiple news sources, clusters related stories into topics, and generates article drafts for editorial review. Incoming content is automatically processed, vectorised, and, where necessary, translated, allowing editors to work with a structured and prioritised flow of information.
Guidance from FT Strategies was particularly valuable in shaping prompt design and defining how editorial relevance should be evaluated. Instead of optimising purely for speed or volume, the system was designed to reflect journalistic judgement, placing trust and editorial responsibility at the centre of the workflow.
Internal testing demonstrated strong results. Editors reported that generated drafts were largely accurate and useful, with only minor issues such as occasional hallucinations or translation inconsistencies. The experience confirmed that AI could meaningfully reduce manual workload while preserving editorial oversight.
Beyond the technology itself, the collaboration led to broader organisational benefits. Working across different teams and markets helped demonstrate that newsroom challenges are largely universal. Whether operating in Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, or other markets within United Media Group, editorial teams faced similar pressures around speed, scale, and consistency.
One of the most significant outcomes was improved AI literacy among editors. Rather than viewing automation as a threat, editorial teams became active participants in shaping how AI supports their work. This cultural shift proved as important as the technical progress.
The long-term ambition emerging from the programme is to embed AI-powered workflows as a core part of editorial operations across United Media Group. By prioritising trust over hype and scalability over experimentation, NetInfo laid the foundations for responsible editorial automation, later informing the development of NewsBuild.ai as a platform designed for real newsroom reality.
