CNA is transforming its newsroom with AI

Our Executive Function series features perspectives from leaders driving transformation through AI.

Channel NewsAsia (CNA) is a global news network based in Singapore that reaches 150 million homes and connected devices across Asia, Europe, and the US. It produces award winning news and current affairs content across all platforms from digital, broadcast, audio and more. 

 We spoke to Walter Fernandez about the journey CNA is taking with AI, how it’s transforming the way its journalists work with AI and what the future looks like within the newsroom with AI. 

Walter, today, every part of the newsroom at CNA is using AI. Looking back to when you were first starting this journey, what was the vision you had, and how does it compare to where you are today?

We started experimenting with AI back in 2019—long before ChatGPT took the world by storm. Even then, we saw tremendous potential for AI to transform newsrooms. At that time, most editors saw AI as an assistive technology, something on the side to help them.

I have a more aggressive view. First, AI capabilities are growing exponentially. Second, AI will fundamentally reshape how newsrooms operate—more so than the social media disruption two decades ago. Third, AI will become a foundational backbone technology. 

So if you ask about our vision at CNA, we’re “all in.” That doesn’t mean being the very first, but it does mean being an early adopter to AI, because the benefits compound over time. At the same time, early adoption must not be reckless—we spent a year drafting and refining our AI guidelines, setting up cross-functional oversight, enforcing human-in-the-loop processes, and newsroom specific dos and don’ts. For example, we don’t allow cloned AI voices or AI-generated footage in news coverage or documentaries. 

And we don’t tolerate vanity projects. Everything must solve real problems or pain points. We’ll never call ourselves an “AI-first newsroom.”

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