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Interest in AI chatting about the US election has been huge.
So far, the USA friend has answered over 26,000 reader questions.
– It has been an absolutely incredible commitment, says Titti Jersler, editorial development manager at Aftonbladet.
The most common question from Aftonbladet’s readers before the US election is “How is the situation between Trump and Harris right now?”. That and other questions, such as “How does the US election affect us in Sweden?”, are things that the AI chatbot The USA friend answered during the day.
– The large amount of questions shows that there is a huge interest in this type of journalism and we will of course take that with us going forward when we plan new ventures, says Titti Jersler.
Aftonbladet’s AI chatbot, which is a combination of advanced AI technology and Aftonbladet’s editorial expertise, has been built to be easy to use and provide reliable answers from a database where the content is fact-checked by Aftonbladet’s journalists.
– Most people know that chatbots have a tendency to hallucinate, i.e. make up or give wrong answers. But the US friend is built in such a way that this should not happen. It’s our journalism, packaged and presented in a new way, on your terms, says Martin Schori, CEO responsible publisher at Aftonbladet.
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full screen THE GANG BEHIND THE USA FRIEND: Top row: Vasilios Hatciliamis, Sofia Boström, Patrik Syk, Daniel Kozlowski, Titti Jersler, Martin Schori. Middle row: Ulrika Andersson, Petter Svensson, Emilia Cederholm. Bottom row: Oskar Nyqvist, Rudolf Hersén, Katarzyna Rosiak, Elin Wieslander and Konrad Cronsioe. Photo: Björn Lindahl, Lotte Fernvall. Note! The picture is a montage!
During the EU election, Valkompisen answered a total of 150,000 reader questions. Before the US election, interest is expected to be even greater. After the server crash at the launch on Tuesday morning, Aftonbladet has experienced higher traffic than usual ahead of November 5.
– We will continue to update Valkompisen on an ongoing basis with new information, so it can respond to news events and current opinion figures. We will also add the possibility to follow in real time which reader questions are asked the most right now, says Titti Jersler.