The study “AI in the Newsroom: Lessons from the Adoption of The Globe and Mail’s Sophi” by Alfred Hermida from University of British Columbia and Felix M. Simon from University of Oxford analysed the case of Sophi, an algorithmic recommendation engine developed by The Globe and Mail, a newspaper in Canada, and how the interaction with Sophi showcased the interaction between technological capabilities and journalistic values.
Typically, AI is seen to support, extend, and enhance existing journalistic practices in news work. The uses varied: from discovering trends in the social media to generating headlines and summaries to recommending stories for readers.
In this study, the approach centers on the interplay between AI systems and journalistic norms as they relate to gatekeeping. The gatekeeping lens allows the authors to examine the impact of AI systems in journalism in the light of, what according to Bucher (2018: 118) is “the new algorithmic logic governing the media landscape at large”.
The case study is about Sophi, an algorithmic recommendation system by The Globe and Mail, Canada’s leading quality newspaper. The three questions the study seeks to answer are (1) Where has Sophi been adopted and how has the system been framed by the industry? Building on this descriptive question we ask further (2) Under what conditions are specific AI systems such as Sophi deemed acceptable within journalism, and (3) what are the potential implications of our findings for the design and deployment of other AI technologies for journalists?
Sophi was launched in 2015, and it has since been adopted by other newspapers like The Washington Post, was separated The Globe and Mail in 2022 and sold to the European media conglomerate Mediahuis in 2023.
A key feature in the development and adoption of Sophi was the involvement of journalists in the development and training of it, fostering, what Crawley termed “the connection between that technology and the newsroom,” (quoted in Turvill, para. 36).
By 2020, Sophi was deployed on 99% across The Globe and Mail’s digital properties. Sonali Verma, the Director of Business Development credited it for a 222% increase in registrations and a 51% increase in subscription conversions. Verma was quoted stating that Sophi “has resulted in 10x more subscription revenue than the advertising revenue given up by hard paywalling The Globe’s articles and has brought in several million dollars incrementally — without changing how its journalists do their jobs,”.
Sophi has already been lauded by other parties, such as industry publications, professional journalism organizations, and even academic circles (Scire 2021; Willens 2021) as particularly innovative and wide-reaching use of automation.
In the adoption of Sophi, the first research question, shows that 49 websites and 55 news websites in 2024 were using Sophi. Of course, some website urls led to the same websites. The breakdown showed that it was mainly used by large media conglomerates running a network of local and regional sites. The comparison between 2022 and 2024 showed that there was a small increase in the number of websites using Sophi.
The analysis of news coverage of Sophi revealed that it was perceived as being able to help in automated content curation, optimising paywalls, and providing better data-driven insights to help editors make more informed decisions. It was also revealed that Sophi had formed partnerships with platforms such as WordPress VIP, CUE, and Arc Publishing.
All in all, the findings revealed that Sophi’s widespread adoption occurred primarily among local and regional news organizations owned by larger media conglomerates. The findings also suggest that AI systems find acceptance when they balance between addressing operational challenges and maintaining editorial insight.
As a gatekeeping process, AI adoption is shaped by the complex interplay between economic pressures and professional values – similar to the adoption of other computer technologies. Local and regional outlets often view the potential gains as outweighing the concerns such as editorial autonomy.
Successful AI integration requires attention to three key factors: organisational context, scope of automation, and institutional origin.
The article “AI in the Newsroom: Lessons from the Adoption of The Globe and Mail’s Sophi” by Alfred Hermida and Felix M. Simon is in Journalism Practice. (Free abstract).
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