
News organisations in Asia Pacific embrace AI innovations
KUALA LUMPUR: From creating customised reader personas to developing an AI-aided therapist for readers, news organisations across the Asia Pacific shared their journeys in adopting AI in newsrooms.
Organised by the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), the AI Showcase: Best Case Studies from the WAN-IFRA AI Catalyst Programme featured three news organisations presenting their prototypes at the WAN-IFRA Digital Media Asia 2025.
The Star's senior news editor Razak Ahmad revealed that the news organisation is developing an AI-enhanced therapist based on 39 years of columns from the newspaper's weekly advice columnist, Dear Thelma.
He explained that The Star possesses a rich dataset to train an AI that can authentically capture her voice and perspective.
"Since April 1986, Thelma has guided readers through relationship troubles, career challenges, and life's many other dilemmas.
"An AI-enhanced Thelma means we can respond to more reader submissions, potentially increasing reader engagement, especially among our younger, tech-savvy audience," he said.
A guiding principle for the project is ensuring that any AI-generated content is clearly labeled and moderated by a qualified person before publication.
Senior Tech Coordinator Kyle Kwok emphasized the importance of continuously fine-tuning the AI training model to ensure it accurately reflects Thelma's voice and perspective.
"We will have to continuously feed the most recent Dear Thelma articles to the AI model so that it will be up to date," he said.
Fellow editor Michelle Tam noted that time and tests would determine if the advice generated by the AI therapist can adequately help The Star's readers navigate the complexities of their personal lives.
She stressed that the AI tools integrated with Dear Thelma would be under human supervision to maintain The Star's high level of credibility and reader trust.
She invited readers to share their problems with Dear Thelma by emailing lifestyle@thestar.com.my.
"In addition to our wonderful human shoulder to cry on, you might even encounter a trained 'Ther-AI-phist' to lend you a helping hand in the future," she said.
The session moderator, journalist and media innovator Fergus Bell, stated that the newsroom AI Catalyst is an 18-month programme to support 128 newsrooms in their AI adoption journey.
"These experiments reveal what works, what doesn't, and what's next for newsrooms serious about AI," he said, adding that these projects span multilingual, multiplatform, and resource-diverse newsrooms.
Taiwan's United Daily News Group data development general manager Anson Mok mentioned that their organisation is creating a prototype exploring Gen AI's potential to offer content recommendations based on readers' personas, including demographics, behaviours, and preferences.
"We defined 20 personas and used AI to analyse which type of content fits the personas," he said.
This prototype helps enhance audience segmentation, news value, content quality, and understanding and expanding the target audience.
Sports editor at the Philippine Daily Inquirer Francis T.J. Ochoa presented their prototype called the Newsroom Elves, which aims to improve efficiency in the print newsroom.
"The Editor's Desk Elf converts press releases into stories with headlines and summaries. It copy-reads articles to check for spelling, grammar, and punctuation and edits for clarity and brevity," he said.
He added that it would give the editorial team more time to focus on the narrative of news stories.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Star
3 days ago
- The Star
Bridging digital, generational gap
Senior citizens at a digital workshop in Segambut. — Low Lay Phon/The Star Young volunteers in Segambut teaching senior citizens critical mobile app skills Having previously been unfamiliar with digital platforms, Segambut resident Joe Fong found a digital workshop near his Kuala Lumpur home incredibly useful. 'It is very interesting for us to learn something, especially the various platforms that allow us to use public transport and order food. 'Previously, I would just take buses to move around, but now that I've learned to use e-hailing apps, I can book myself a car to get around,' said the 63-year-old. Fong is a regular participant of digital workshops held at Pusat Nadi Segambut, an initiative by Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh's office. Nadi, the National Information Dissemination Centre, was formerly known as Digital Economy Centre. To date, the Segambut centre has hosted 13 workshops aimed at empowering the community, particularly senior citizens, to use various apps. Located at Jalan 8/38A, Taman Sri Sinar, the centre repurposed from a community hall offers an air-conditioned space for the community to rent laptops and access the Internet. Schoolchildren can also rent laptops to do their homework and studies. The most recent workshop taught participants to use the Pulse MyRapid app. Mohd Sharif Ujang, 74, said the workshops had enabled him to learn about using e-wallets for various payments. 'Although I am rather slow in learning, the trainers have been patient. 'I try to come here as much as possible and learn new things,' said Mohd Sharif. Yeoh's political secretary Yap Yee Vonne said the digital workshops began in March with the aim of helping senior citizens. 'We want to educate residents on using governmental services that are gradually moving from physical counters to mobile applications. 'They learn how to use the apps of Air Selangor, Kuala Lumpur City Hall, Prasarana and Tenaga Nasional Bhd. 'This is a safe place for them to learn, ask questions and get themselves equipped with digital knowledge.' On the use of young volunteers to assist with digital teaching, Yap said, 'I think it is significant to bring generations together to foster a multi-generational relationship. 'We hope to continue to run more classes for all segments of society. 'Future workshops will cater to young working adults as well as youths about to start work.'

The Star
3 days ago
- The Star
‘Shine a spotlight on our semiconductor makers'
Beacon of the region: Anwar (third from left) visiting booths at the Asean Semiconductor Summit 2025, accompanied by Tengku Zafrul (second from left). — IZZRAFIQ ALIAS/The Star PETALING JAYA: Malaysians must take pride in having not just 'Made in Malaysia' goods but also those that are 'Made by Malaysians' such as semiconductors, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. 'Our mindset must shift from just having 'Made in Malaysia' products to creating 'Made by Malaysian' products.' 'In terms of growing 10 semiconductor firms with revenue of more than US$1bil and 100 others with revenue less than RM1bil, I am proud to share that Malaysia now has at least 13 homegrown companies (across the semiconductor value chain) emerging as potential national champions. 'Less than 50 years from now, we want Malaysia to be able to look back at this moment as the tipping point when the country began grooming its very own Fortune 500 tech companies.' Malaysia is currently the world's sixth largest exporter of semiconductors. Anwar, who spoke at the closing of the Asean Semiconductor Summit 2025 here yesterday, said investors are always welcome but Malaysia would be more strategic and prudent by choosing partners 'who strengthen our supply chains, transfer their knowledge and technologies, and deliver real value to Malaysians'. He also pointed out that the National Semiconductor Strategy launched last year has proven to be successful as Malaysia has secured more than RM63bil worth of investments for the industry as of March this year. This comprised RM58bil from foreign sources with the rest from domestic sources. 'Our established semiconductor ecosystem is well-poised to help us move beyond an FDI-first model and focus on building homegrown champions. 'We want long-term collaborators who grow with us. The most important target now is to deliver the 10+100. 'This means building 10 Malaysian semiconductor and supply chain companies with revenues between RM1bil and RM4.7bil, and nurturing at least 100 more to approach the RM1bil mark. 'These companies will not only export Malaysian products to the world, but also bring our knowledge, value creation and talent into Asean and the global markets. They will be our flag bearers abroad, rooted at home.' Anwar said more than 60,000 engineers would be created in a partnership between the Collaborative Research in Engineering, Science and Technology under the Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry and HRD Corp under the Human Resources Ministry with an allocation of RM1.2bil over five years. He also called on Asean countries to work as a community to address the shortage in skilled workers for the semiconductor industry. Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said 'Made by Malaysia' is a vision that requires a whole-of-nation effort. 'Every RM1 spent triggers over RM2 in direct output across the economy – through supply chains, supporting sectors and household incomes. 'In total, the industry generated RM4.9 trillion in economic output last year, underscoring its role as a national multiplier,' he said. He also said Asean countries must move beyond fragmented efforts and instead embrace a collective 'race to the top,' leveraging each nation's unique strengths.


The Star
5 days ago
- The Star
Public Bank says PB Engage mobile app will be inaccessible from August 15 onward
For more information on switching to the new MyPB app, Public Bank customers can visit the bank's website. — CHRISTOPHER FAM/The Star PETALING JAYA: Public Bank has announced that its PB Engage mobile app will cease to function after Aug 15, with customers advised to switch to the new MyPB app to continue accessing mobile banking services. The move to discontinue the older PB Engage app was originally announced back in February of this year. Customers who are not yet on the MyPB app can install it from the Google Play Store, App Store or Huawei AppGallery. They will then be able to login using their existing PBe login credentials, before transferring their SecureSign registration. It is worth noting that they will still need the PB Engage app installed in order to accept the PB SecureSign on the MyPB app. SecureSign will then need to be activated in person at a Public Bank branch or ATM. Upon SecureSign activation in the app, a 12-hour cooling-off period will be in effect, meaning that customers will not be able to approve transactions using the device during that period. For more information on switching to the new MyPB app, Public Bank customers can visit the bank's website.