Italian newspaper Il Foglio has become the first in the world to publish an edition entirely produced by artificial intelligence (AI). The four-page edition of the newspaper will be available on both newsstands and online from Tuesday.
As a month-long experiment, the conservative-liberal daily aimed to highlight AI's impact on journalism and daily life, the newspaper's editor Caludio Cerasa said. The experiment comes as news organisations worldwide navigate the intergration of AI into journalism. Recently, The Guardian reported that BBC News intends to use AI for more personalized content.
“It will be the first daily newspaper in the world on newsstands created entirely using artificial intelligence,” said Cerasa, The Guardian reported. “For everything. For the writing, the headlines, the quotes, the summaries. And, sometimes, even for the irony.” He added that journalists’ role would be limited to “asking questions [into an AI tool] and reading the answers”.
The front page of Il Foglio's AI-produced edition features a piece on US President Donald Trump discussing the double standards among his Italian supporters who criticise the cancel culture but turn a blind eye or "celebrate" when “their idol in the US behaves like the despot of a banana republic”.
The front page also features a column titles 'Putin, the 10 betrayals', outlining the two decades of what is describes as unfulfilled commitments and scrapped agreements by Russian President, Vladimir Putin.
Inside, a page 2 story explores "situationships" and how many young Europeans are moving away from steady traditional relationships. The final page presents AI-generated letters to the editor with one reader questioning whether AI will eventually make humans obsolete. “AI is a great innovation, but it doesn’t yet know how to order a coffee without getting the sugar wrong”, reads the AI-generated response.
Editor Cerasa described the Il Foglio AI as a "real newspaper" built on news, debate and though-provoking analysis. He said that the edition serves as a testing ground to explore AI's role in daily journalism.
"It is just another [Il] Foglio made with intelligence, don’t call it artificial," Cerasa remarked.