Isabelle Bousquet

Welcome to Tech News Briefing.

It's Tuesday, March 10th.

I'm Isabelle Bousquet for The Wall Street Journal.

Today, we're looking at two industries that seemed ripe for AI disruption, or maybe even death.

But so far, we're seeing the opposite.

First, AI might be the savior local news has been waiting for.

Across the country, local reporters are using the tech to cover more stories more deeply, although it's not without risks.

Next up, the consulting industry is also getting a boost from AI giants.

We're diving into how a flurry of deals between AI labs and large consultancies are mutually beneficial, at least for now.

But first, for years, AI has felt like a threat to journalism, with its promise to create loads of cheap content online without any human intervention.

But it turns out the technology has actually been a boon for local news.

Reporters in underfunded and understaffed newsrooms are now using AI to monitor police scanners in town meetings, saving them hours that they say they can now spend on deeper investigative reporting.

Across the industry, AI is writing the first drafts of an article, which a human then edits.

Wall Street Journal media reporter Alexandra Bruel joins us to talk about how it's all working and what could go wrong.

Alex, from your perspective, how much of a game changer is this for these local reporters and these local outlets?

When drafts of stories are being written by AI, there is a lot that can go wrong.

So what are some of the risks here or what kinds of fumbles have we seen so far, if any?

You wrote about at least one AI company that has started creating its own local news sites.

Curious about what's going on there.

That was Wall Street Journal media reporter Alexandra Bruau.