Angela Eichhorst is working as an artificial intelligence data reporter and product developer to find ways to tell stories that were previously impossible because of document volume and deadline pressure. She aims to generate leads and deliver material from municipal meetings across Connecticut's 169 towns to beat reporters using AI tools. Critics warn AI could replace journalists amid newsroom cost-cutting, while small nonprofit outlets are adopting AI to complement reporting by churning through documents, parsing legislation and historical records. AI is being used for tracking legislation, transcribing meetings, audience engagement, fundraising, and routine tasks, with adoption uneven across nonprofit newsrooms.
The Connecticut Mirror's new artificial intelligence data reporter and product developer is trying to figure out how to tell stories that were previously impossible because of the volume of documents or deadline pressure. In Connecticut, where news is often made in municipal meetings, the nonprofit's beat reporters can't make it to all 169 different towns, Eichhorst said. One of her goals is to generate leads and get material from those meetings to reporters using AI tools.
Critics warn that AI could replace journalists as newsrooms look to cut costs. But CT Mirror is among a new crop of small nonprofit outlets using the technology to complement reporting and fuel investigations by churning through documents, cutting through legislation and parsing historical records. At a time when news budgets are tight, especially at smaller nonprofits, AI may be a tool to help handle the tedious but essential work of tracking legislation and transcribing meetings,
However, AI adoption among INN member newsrooms is uneven, Haeg told Poynter and IRW in a recent interview. One-third of INN's members used AI "in ways that benefit their organization" in 2023, according to INN's 2024 Index survey of its members. In 2024, INN estimated that more than half of its 500 members would be using AI this year. Most of those outlets are using AI in the back office,
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