Upasna Gautam at CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Reflecting on five years at CNN, Gautam shares her journey from the first tech hire at CNN Underscored to leading the development of a platform that will power the upcoming presidential election. From building groundbreaking e-commerce systems to empowering journalists with cutting-edge tools, Gautam has navigated a path filled with challenges and growth, always focused on the mission of creating a new reality where truth prevails amidst the noise.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming a key tool in newsrooms across the world, and it’s helping journalists work smarter and more efficiently. Every week, new AI tools are introduced, claiming to improve how news is produced, reported, and shared. But the real question is: how can AI actually make journalists’ jobs easier and more effective?
Upasna Gautam, Senior Product Manager at CNN and Chair of the Board of Directors at The News Product Alliance, has worked to answer that question. She leads technology changes at CNN and helps newsrooms worldwide use AI in practical ways. Gautam believes that AI should solve real problems for journalists rather than just follow trends. She asks three important questions before using AI in the newsroom: “What’s your biggest goal? What’s your most significant pain point? How do you measure success?” These questions ensure AI tools are chosen for their real benefits, not just for the sake of technology.
At CNN, Gautam helped create Stellar, a content management system that uses AI to improve key newsroom tasks like organizing content, managing workflows, and integrating data. These tasks might seem small, but they are essential for journalists who have a lot of work to do every day. Stellar helps automate repetitive tasks, allowing journalists to focus on more important work, like writing and storytelling. AI tools like this one help newsrooms be more efficient, saving time and giving journalists more room to create quality content.
AI can also help journalists handle the large amounts of information they deal with daily. Newsrooms are flooded with data from breaking news, social media posts, and audience feedback. AI can help by finding trends and identifying important stories journalists might otherwise miss. Instead of spending hours sorting through information, journalists can use AI to quickly organize and highlight the key facts. This allows them to spend more time on writing and reporting the news that matters.
Despite the benefits, many journalists worry that AI will replace their jobs. Gautam addresses this concern by showing how AI can make their jobs easier. She says, “I never skimp on context and justification.” Instead of focusing on AI for its own sake, Gautam explains how AI can save journalists time and simplify their work. For example, AI can help journalists organize stories or suggest sources, but it’s up to the journalists to decide how to tell the story. Gautam’s approach has helped many journalists see AI as a helpful tool, not a replacement. In fact, many journalists have taken ownership of the technology, working alongside it to improve their daily tasks.
Even smaller newsrooms can benefit from AI, Gautam says. The tools don’t need to be expensive or highly complex to make a difference. Simple AI tools, like those that help organize content or manage workflows, can still provide huge benefits. For smaller newsrooms, AI can help by sorting through large amounts of information or managing databases of sources, making the work process much easier.
The key takeaway from Gautam’s work is that AI is a tool to help journalists, not replace them. The most successful newsrooms will use AI to solve real problems, like saving time, improving efficiency, and organizing data. AI can make journalists’ work smarter, allowing them to focus on what really matters—storytelling. As AI continues to grow in the journalism industry, it’s clear that the future of news is about using technology to support, not replace, human creativity and expertise.
