4 Ways News Publishers Are Bringing AI Into Their Apps 

AI has so far been a powerful engine for internal newsroom workflows. It’s now also moving into features that readers can directly use. At the same time, news apps are growing in importance as a controlled space for publishers to connect with audiences amid fragmented news discovery and shrinking search traffic. 

This article explores how these two trends intersect, showcasing 4 cases where AI is embedded into news apps.  

Audio voiceovers

Using AI voiceovers to narrate articles has become a common feature in news apps as synthetic voices improve in quality and naturalness. The Washington Post, however, has taken this a step further by applying AI-generated audio to a different content format: its newsletters. Three of the Post’s flagship newsletters—focused on politics and policy—are now available in narrated form within the app’s “Listen” section. This means that daily digests, which are already designed to be concise and impactful, can be consumed hands-free during commutes, workouts, or other activities, extending the newsletters’ reach beyond the inbox.

One can imagine taking it a step forward as well. TIME has, albeit only on their website for the moment, introduced an AI-powered audio briefing that transforms their flagship “The Brief” newsletter into a daily, conversational listening experience. Instead of simply converting text to speech, the system—developed with Scale AI and powered by OpenAI’s voice technology—scripts a dialogue between two AI personas, “Henry” and “Lucy.” This format makes complex news more engaging and accessible, mimicking the tone of a natural radio conversation while keeping the focus on verified, editorially approved content. 

Interactive chatbots

Several publishers, from Schibsted to The Financial Times, are embracing chatbots as one of the most common and recognizable ways to integrate AI into their news apps. A case and point example is the “Frag Mich” (Ask Me) functionality launched in July 2025 by Neue Pressegesellschaft.

This AI-driven feature in the mobile apps of SÜDWEST PRESSE, Märkische Oderzeitung, and LAUSITZER RUNDSCHAU is an intelligent chat that allows subscribers to ask free-form questions, whether about current news or archived articles. They receive instant, contextual answers generated by a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) system developed in partnership with Retresco. 

The AI-powered chat draws only on its redaction-verified content across all journalistic areas (e.g., local news, politics, culture, sports), ensuring that answers come from trusted, editorially approved sources. To guide users, the system also offers automatically generated example questions based on trending articles (e.g., “Which vacation destination is worth it in July?” or “What new restaurants have opened in Tübingen?”). 

Article summarization 

Clarín, Argentina’s largest newspaper, has integrated an AI-powered reading assistant called UalterAI directly into its digital articles. Positioned just below the author’s byline in the mobile and web experience, UalterAI enables readers to instantly transform an article into six alternative formats, including concise summaries, chronological breakdowns, highlighted quotes, data tables, name indexes, and FAQ-style Q&As.  

By offering multiple entry points into a story, UalterAI caters to different reading preferences and time constraints, especially for mobile users. Whether scanning bullet points during a commute or exploring a structured list of key quotes, readers can choose the format that best fits their needs while always having the option to return to the full article. 

Political leaning analysis

Particle AI takes a slightly different approach—it’s not a traditional news publisher, but rather an AI-driven news aggregator. Particle applies AI to analyze political leanings at the article level by classifying pieces across the American political spectrum—from left to right. Their AI model examines various textual cues such as topic framing, policy positions, language, tone, and treatment of sources. It then assigns each article a bias rating, enabling users to see clearly where content falls on the spectrum. This classification approach offers granularity, helping readers understand the ideological slant of coverage at a glance. 

Beyond that, Particle integrates this analysis into its user interface through an interactive political spectrum chart, particularly visible in features like the “Opposite Sides” summary style. This visual cue helps readers quickly assess whether a story features a diversity of viewpoints or leans heavily toward one side. By making bias explicit and transparent, Particle empowers users to better explore and understand the ideological balance—or imbalance—of their newsfeed. 

We’re still in the early days 

While AI is rapidly reshaping newsroom workflows and website experiences, its presence in mobile news apps remains relatively limited. Much of the innovation still happens on the web, where development cycles are faster and integration more flexible. However, as mobile apps grow in strategic importance—serving as controlled, high-engagement environments for loyal audiences—they will likely become the next frontier for AI-driven innovation. For now, most implementations revolve around enhanced audio narration, summarization tools, and conversational bots. The coming years will reveal whether AI can move beyond these initial use cases to power truly distinctive, app-native experiences.