"No more work step without AI"

m&k: At Handelsblatt, you have initiated a strategy process for the AI age. How do you envision this orientation - today, but also in the future?

Sebastian Matthes: In the near future, no work step in the editorial department will take place without the help of AI. We have set up an Editorial Lab that systematically develops and implements AI tools for the editorial team - for example for editing, creating images and searching for topics. Our goal is for the entire editorial team to use AI for support where it makes sense - and we are well on the way to achieving this.

Does this mean that AI will partially replace the editorial team?

AI will never replace the editorial team. It helps us to transcribe interviews, summarize podcasts and optimize SEO and headlines. It helps us to recognize whether a topic is developing into a trend. But telling stories that have not yet been told - no AI can do that. Investigative research or analysis of current events would not exist without journalists. And people are still needed to classify world events.

Sometimes an AI-authored text sounds a bit wooden: How are these stories adapted and made recognizable?

We do not produce purely AI-generated texts. These texts currently do not even come close to meeting our quality requirements. However, we are watching with interest the possibilities of personalizing texts using AI. We therefore do not categorically rule out the possibility of working with automated content at some point in the future. However, we would always mark such content as AI-generated. We are already making the use of AI transparent. For example in our Podcast AI briefingwhich is read aloud in a synthesized voice by our author Larissa Holzki.

What are the wishes and goals behind the strategy: Can AI make media companies more profitable again?

It is still unclear how exactly AI will change our industry. How will our business models change? Will there still be self-contained products or will everyone soon have a personal, omniscient AI assistant? I don't believe that AI will destroy jobs in journalism on a massive scale. But we need to set up the right guard rails: For example, we have always known that people trust other people the most. If we succeed in building strong personal brands around the Handelsblatt that people recognize from talk shows, conferences or social media, we have the chance to play a role as a brand in people's lives even in the age of AI bots.