Sophi Automation, an artificial intelligence website editor, has received the “Technical Innovation in the Service of Digital Journalism” award at the 2020 Online Journalism Awards.
Sophi is used by digital properties belonging to the Globe and Mail, where it is curating 99 percent of published content, examining how each piece is likely to contribute to subscriber numbers and advertising revenue.
Journalists at the Globe and Mail first set parameters to understand what stories are relevant and where they should reside, and then the platform starts crafting stories without any additional input.
The project’s award page reads:
“We had to build a system that our newsroom could easily grasp so that they would train and trust the algorithm.
“Sophi was built in close collaboration with our newsroom, which tested it and provided constant feedback on it through a Slack channel and regular meetings. The newsroom still works with a version of Sophi as a decision-support analytics tool, because editors still curate the top three story packages on our home page and business page. They also have the capability to override autonomous decisions that Sophi makes.”
