7 verified, source-linked AI implementations documented between 2024–2024.
In-house editorial AI tool for grammar checking, spelling, editorial style, headline generation, article summaries and categorisation tags; can summarise press releases into article drafts; AI-powered personalised article recommendations to digital subscribers""
AI-generated editorial about All Blacks centre selections published in the Weekend Herald without reader disclosure; editor-in-chief publicly acknowledged the use fell short of editorial standards; newsroom-wide meeting convened;" believed to be first AI-written editorial at a New Zealand newspaper
Award-winning AI content recommendation system promotes stories to readers based on previously read story types, regional relevancy and predicted subscriber/free-reader interest; powers homepage content below manually curated top editorial positions""
'Polaris' AI system manages homepage content slots, optimising story placement for free readers vs subscribers; reduces manual homepage curation time while improving engagement""
'First Listen' AI tool transcribes video and audio from journalist interviews; 'First Cut' AI tool helps producers prepare articles for print newspapers;" 'First Look' editing tool corrects grammar and suggests SEO-optimised headlines
AI text-to-speech system converts newspaper articles to audio; system intelligently recognises and correctly pronounces te reo Māori words within English text, switching pronunciation between the two languages; described by NZME as a world-first capability""
'Today in Business' experimental daily podcast: AI wrote and voiced the entire episode summarising the day's business news based on journalist-created articles; a second AI model fact-checked the first AI's draft, then the original AI re-checked changes, then a business editor did final review; podcast has since been discontinued""
NZME / NZ Herald is one of 13 organizations in New Zealand documented in the index, which holds 25 cases from the country. Its work spans 5 function types, including Audience Experience & Personalisation, documented across 110 organizations worldwide.