Generative AI brings journalism closer to the public

About 2.5 million Dutch people struggle with reading or using digital technology. For this group—as well as for young people and other citizens who don’t identify with the tone or content of the news—journalism is often hard to follow. News reports tend to be too long, too complicated, or mainly focus on societal issues from the perspective of authorities. This widens the gap between the media and society and poses a risk to citizen engagement in the democratic process.

This project uses generative AI to make news more accessible—for example, by automatically rewriting news articles into simpler language tailored to people with limited literacy or language skills. At the same time, new AI tools are being developed to help journalists approach societal developments from the perspective of citizens: what do policy measures mean for everyday life, and what questions do people have?

To ensure these applications meet the needs of the target audience, field research will be conducted in which low-literacy citizens test the technology and share their experiences. The project also specifically explores applications in Dutch as well as regional languages like Gronings to better reach people in those areas.

€503,000,- will be used as a PPP program grant.