The National's AI Launchpad case study

The National used FT Strategies’ AI Launchpad to turn scattered artificial intelligence tests into a newsroom programme with a live reader product and 30-plus mapped use cases. (ftstrategies.com) FT Strategies said The National, an English-language news outlet in the United Arab Emirates, joined the programme with support from the Google News Initiative. The work ran over six months and used sprint-based experiments, workshops, town halls and cross-team sessions. (ftstrategies.com) The first product was a summary feature branded “Summarise – powered by AI, curated by The National.” It sits in a redesigned article toolbar beside the full article and a text-to-speech option in English and Arabic. (ftstrategies.com) FT Strategies said editors review every artificial-intelligence output before publication, and The National first launched the feature in its Business section before expanding it more widely. The programme also produced an internal artificial-intelligence charter, defined owners and success metrics, and rules for decision-making. (ftstrategies.com) The case study lands as publishers move from back-end newsroom tests to reader-facing products such as chatbots, search tools and article guides. FT Strategies said its 2024 AI Launchpad ran from June to November 2024 and supported 16 publishers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. (ftstrategies.com) That wider programme focused on products that help readers “find, understand, and interact with journalism,” according to FT Strategies’ report page. The National’s summary tool fits that shift by packaging one article in multiple formats instead of replacing the article itself. (ftstrategies.com; ftstrategies.com) FT Strategies described the operational result in less flashy terms than many publisher artificial-intelligence pitches. It said the programme increased efficiency through prioritisation, improved collaboration across editorial, product and engineering, and gave the team permission to stop projects that did not perform. (ftstrategies.com) The AI Launchpad itself is structured as a five-month programme for publishers with existing digital audiences and enough product and data capacity to run intermediate experiments. FT Strategies says participants leave with a capability analysis, two to three practical experiments, a 12-month plan and an ethical-use charter. (ftstrategies.com) In this case, the most concrete output was not a fully automated newsroom. It was a summary button with an editor in the loop, backed by a list of 30-plus ideas the newsroom can test next. (ftstrategies.com)