Our All-Star Speaker Lineup for AI x Journalism House

Back again to Austin in 2025 - the AI x Journalism House brought to you by Hacks/Hackers in partnership with the Online News Association and supported by the MacArthur Foundation. Join us for two days of workshops, speakers and networking to dive deeper into how artificial intelligence is changing how we create and distribute news and information.

When: Monday March 10 & Tuesday March 11
Where: The Texas Tribune

March 10

If, When & How to Use AI in Journalism –  and Tell 

9:45 am - 10:45 am
The Center for News, Technology and Innovation has conducted four cross-country focus groups and qualitative surveys, held three global convenings of thought leaders across journalism, tech, research and policy with reports on takeaways and next steps, and commissioned multiple guest essays on this topic. A few consistent findings: Progress requires a better relationship between technology and journalists, more research on the tension between the public's expressed desire for transparency but rejection of certain AI labels, learning from other industries, global sharing and huge levels of experimentation. 
- Amy Mitchell, Executive Director, CNTI
- Celeste LeCompte, Contributing Expert, CNTI

AI, Innovation, and the Reinvention of Legacy Industries

11:00 am - 12:00 pm
How does a legacy industry like local news transform for the AI era—and what can other industries learn from its evolution? Join a conversation with Amanda Edmonds, VP of Business Partnerships for ProRata.ai and Virginia Fletcher, CTO of Lee Enterprises to discuss how AI is modernizing operations, creating personalized yet expansive news experiences, and unlocking new revenue opportunities. This conversation isn’t just about media—it’s about how any established industry can leverage AI to stay competitive. Learn how ProRata.ai is helping to drive this transformation and what businesses across sectors can take away from the reinvention of local news.
- Amanda Edmonds, VP of Business Partnerships, ProRata.ai
- Virginia Fletcher, CTO, Lee Enterprises

Trust & Safety in Generative AI

12:45 pm - 1:45 pm
Join Lavanya Poreddy, Head of Trust and Safety at HeyGen, for a discussion on implementing trust and safety measures in AI systems. This session will explore content moderation for AI-generated media, strategies to prevent misuse and fraud, and essential guardrails for ethical AI applications. Learn practical approaches to building and deploying AI systems that protect users while maintaining trust.
- Lavanya Poreddy, Head of Trust and Safety, HeyGen

Real Talk About A.I.'s Newsroom Revolution 

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Step behind the curtain with three journalism leaders for an unvarnished look at A.I.'s impact on newsrooms. Building on their official SXSW session, this off-the-record session dives into thorny questions facing journalism today: How are newsrooms grappling with A.I. aggregation? When is A.I. most useful for journalists — and when should they avoid using it? Which advancements keep editors up at night? Which A.I. experiments failed – and what did they learn from them?
- Aimee Rinehart, Senior Product Manager AI Strategy, AP
- Rubina Fillion, Associate Editorial Director of A.I. Initiatives, The New York Times
- Elin Wieslander, AI and News Personalization Editor, Aftonbladet

Sentient Design: Shaping Literacy through Design in the AI Information Age 

3:15 pm - 4:15 pm
As we move from an era of algorithmic recommendations to AI-generated content, we face a paradox: information has never been more accessible, yet public trust in that information has never been lower. This creates both an urgent challenge and a unique opportunity for designing AI-mediated experiences. Traditional approaches to information design focused on distribution and personalization – getting the right content to the right person. But in a world where TikTok clips about news articles can have a bigger reach than the articles themselves, we need to fundamentally rethink how we present and contextualize information. The challenge isn’t reach; it’s literacy and trust.
- Veronika Kindred, Associate Producer, Big Medium

FEATURED CONVERSATION
Independent journalism despite, with, or thanks to artificial intelligence? Our perspective on AI at Der Spiegel

4:30 pm - 5:30 pm
- Stefan Ottlitz, Co-CEO, Der Spiegel
- Christoph Zimmer, Chief Product Officer, Der Spiegel

March 11

Lessons from The Texas Tribune: Building AI tools for accessibility

9:45 am - 10:45 am
At the Tribune, we've found many AI tools pitched to journalists don’t actually solve the problems we face covering our large and complex state. In this session, we'll share how the Tribune is using in-house tools to manifest a future where AI makes our work more efficient and our content more personalized and accessible.
- Darla Cameron, Chief Product Officer, Texas Tribune

Interrogating Generative AI Through Community Juries

11:00 am - Noon
This session will examine how historically marginalized communities can have a direct voice in evaluating and shaping AI systems. Using the framework of "community juries," we will explore how collective decision-making can hold AI accountable, assess biases, and establish ethical AI standards. Through real-world examples and data-driven insights, we’ll discuss strategies to ensure AI serves all communities equitably—especially Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities, who are often most impacted by algorithmic harm.
- Meme Style, Founder & President, Measure

FEATURED CONVERSATION
How Bluesky is Reimagining Breaking News and Journalism

12:45 pm - 1:45 pm
Join Bluesky's COO Rose Wang to explore how decentralized social platforms are reshaping news distribution and community building. As journalists seek new ways to reach readers, Bluesky offers innovative approaches for trusted news networks. Learn practical insights for newsrooms looking to build and engage audiences in this evolving landscape.
- Rose Wang, COO, Bluesky

Reimagining Roles for People in the AI-Powered Newsroom

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
While much of the discussion around AI and journalism focuses on its impact on editorial production, AI has potential for every role across the newsroom, from audience engagement to business. The efficiencies possible now and in the near future allow us to think bigger about what newsroom roles could become in this emerging workflow. With AI support for time-consuming but necessary work in roles across the organization, what can we make space for that only humans can do? In this participatory discussion, we’ll break up into small groups by role to discuss AI’s implications for different newsroom functions with your peers and reconvene to highlight key opportunities for the future of newsroom work.
- Hanaa Rifaey, Interim Executive Director, Online News Association
- Meghan Murphy, Director of Programs, Online News Association

From Archives to Audiences: How AI is Powering the Next Era of Content Discovery

3:15 pm to 4:15 pm
As content libraries expand exponentially, media companies struggle to organize, surface, and monetize their vast archives. This session explores how multimodal AI (spanning video, audio, and images) is reshaping content discovery—empowering broadcasters, studios, and streaming platforms to unlock new revenue opportunities and enhance audience engagement. Learn how AI-driven metadata, search, and personalization are revolutionizing the way content is found and consumed.
- Kevin Hill, General Manager Media & Entertainment, Coactive AI

Preserving Journalism in the AI Era: Trust, Provenance, and Decentralized Storage

4:30 pm to 5:30 pm
Journalistic records are among the most vulnerable information online, subject to linkrot, censorship, and disappearance under centralized control. If a media platform shuts down, entire archives can be lost, like when Paramount Global shuttered MTV News last year, and two decades of music journalism vanished. And as AI-generated content proliferates, preserving and verifying digital media is critical to establishing trust in the information we consume –– and in the media outlets that publish it. This panel explores how blockchain and decentralized storage can bring resilience to media in the age of AI by combating linkrot, ensuring content provenance, and safeguarding press archives for the long term.
- Rachel Horn, Chief Marketing Officer, Filecoin Foundation
- Brad Keoun, Founder and CEO, Distro Media
- Austin Carson, Founder & CEO, SeedAI