Curio raises funds for Rio, an ‘AI information anchor’ in an app

AI could also be inching its method into the newsroom, as shops like Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Gizmodo, VentureBeat, CNET and others have experimented with articles written by AI. However whereas most respectable journalists will condemn this use case, there are a selection of startups that suppose AI can improve the information expertise — at the least on the buyer’s aspect. The most recent to hitch the fray is Rio, an “AI news anchor” designed to assist readers join with the tales and matters they’re most excited by from reliable sources.

The brand new app, from the identical workforce behind AI-powered audio journalism startup Curio, was first unveiled finally month’s South by Southwest Competition in Austin. It has raised funding from Khosla Ventures and the pinnacle of TED, Chris Anderson, who additionally backed Curio. (The startup says the spherical has not but closed, so it may well’t disclose the quantity.)

Curio itself was based in 2016 by ex-BBC strategist Govind Balakrishnan and London lawyer Srikant Chakravarti; Rio is a brand new effort that can broaden the usage of Curio’s AI know-how.

First developed as a function inside Curio’s app, Rio scans headlines from trusted papers and magazines like Bloomberg, The Wall Avenue Journal, Monetary Instances, The Washington Put up and others, after which curates that content material right into a every day information briefing you may both learn or take heed to.

As well as, the workforce says Rio will hold customers from discovering themselves in an echo chamber by in search of out information that expands their understanding of matters and encourages them to dive deeper.

Picture Credit: Curio/Rio

In assessments, Rio ready a every day briefing offered in one thing of a Story-like interface with graphics and hyperlinks to information articles you could possibly faucet on on the backside of the display that might narrate the article utilizing an AI voice. (These have been full articles, to be clear, not AI summaries.) You advance by the headlines in the identical method as you’ll faucet by a Story on a social media app like Instagram.

Curio says Rio’s AI know-how received’t fabricate data and can solely reference content material from its trusted publishers companions. Rio received’t use writer content material to coach an LLM (giant language mannequin) with out “explicit consent,” it says.

Picture Credit: Curio/Rio

Past the briefing, you may also work together with Rio in an AI chatbot interface the place you may ask about different matters of curiosity. Urged matters — like “TikTok ban” or “Ukraine War,” for instance — seem as small tablets above the textual content enter field. We discovered the AI was typically a little bit sluggish to reply at occasions, however, in any other case, it carried out as anticipated.

Plus, Rio would supply to create an audio episode in your queries if you wish to be taught extra.

Picture Credit: Curio/Rio

Co-founder Balakrishnan stated that Curio customers had requested Rio greater than 20,000 questions since it launched as a feature in Curio last May, which is why the corporate determined to spin out the tech into its personal app.

“AI has us all wondering what’s true and what’s not. You can scan AI sites for quick answers, but trusting them blindly is a bit of a gamble,” famous Chakravarti in a press release launched round Rio’s debut at SXSW. “Reliable knowledge is hard to come by. Only a lucky few get access to fact-checked, verified information. Rio guides you through the news, turning everyday headlines from trusted sources into knowledge. Checking the news with Rio leaves you feeling fulfilled instead of down.”

It’s exhausting to say if Rio is sticky sufficient to demand its standalone product, nevertheless it’s simple to think about an interface like this sooner or later coming to bigger information aggregators, like Google Information or Apple Information, maybe, and even to particular person publishers’ websites. In the meantime, Curio may even proceed to exit with a give attention to audio information.

Curio just isn’t the one startup trying to AI to boost the information studying expertise. Former Twitter engineers are building Particle, an AI-powered information reader, backed by $4.4 million. One other AI-powered information app, Bulletin, also launched to sort out clickbait together with providing information summaries. Artifact had additionally leveraged AI before exiting to TechCrunch’s guardian firm, Yahoo.

Rio is presently in early entry, which suggests you’ll want an invite to get in. In any other case, you may be part of the app’s waitlist at rionews.ai. The corporate tells us it plans to launch publicly later this summer season. (As a reward for studying to the underside, 5 of you should use my own invite link to get in.)