Overview of this campaign

The groundbreaking AI-powered chatbot EU Election Buddy was launched in May 2024 to address two pressing challenges: engaging the public with news about EU politics and meeting the evolving habits of younger audiences not reading the news. With a database of thousands of sources built entirely on articles and surveys created and fact checked by Aftonbladet's experienced reporters and editors, the chatbot leveraged advanced AI technology to deliver a secure and highly personalized user experience, ensuring reliability and transparency in every interaction. Unlike many AI products and services our prompt and database avoided the risk of generating inaccurate or biased responses.

The EU Election Buddy empowered users to explore Aftonbladet’s EU coverage and deepen their understanding of political topics on their own terms. Instead of scrolling through endless web pages or lengthy articles, users could receive precise answers to their questions in under a second—making complex political information more accessible and engaging. For those who found articles challenging, the AI offered summaries or clarified difficult terms, ensuring inclusivity and understanding across a diverse audience.

The product redefined how news is consumed, combining cutting-edge technology with high-quality journalism to make EU politics approachable and relevant. Its success laid the foundation for the launch of US Election Buddy in October 2024, expanding the concept to another major election. Together, these innovative chatbots showcase the transformative potential of AI in making essential news both engaging and easy to navigate for audiences of all ages. The product US Election Buddy was also shared with the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang (VG) who made it available also for the Norwegian audience.

Results for this campaign

Despite lukewarm overall engagement with the EU election in Sweden in 2024, Aftonbladet achieved remarkable results. With EU Election Buddy, we successfully connected with a younger audience with the AI chatbot answering 150,000 questions about EU politics in just a few weeks. Impressively, 78,000 users found the chatbot so valuable that they chose to log in, demonstrating the product’s appeal and effectiveness. 

Our innovative Election Buddy has not only renewed and expanded Aftonbladet’s offering but also strengthened users’ trust and connection with our brand. Building on this success, the US Election Buddy was an even greater achievement, answering over 600,000 questions. Notably, more than a quarter of its users were under the age of 36—an audience that news media traditionally struggles to reach and engage.

At a time when younger generations are turning away from traditional news formats, our Election Buddies have proven that an interactive, personalized, and user-centered approach can reignite interest in politics and journalism. These groundbreaking AI-driven tools delivered news on the users’ terms, redefining how media can connect with and inspire the next generation. 

The chatbot was also of great importance to the editorial team, as it allowed them to redirect simpler knowledge-based questions from readers to the Election Buddies. This enabled the editors to dedicate more time to answering more complex inquiries. During the 2020 U.S. election, Aftonbladet received 9,000 questions, but the reporters only had time to answer around 300. Thanks to the Election Buddy, Aftonbladet’s editors were able to answer all the questions from readers during the 2024 U.S. election.

Due to its great success, the Aftonbladet AI Hub has been invited to conferences in the U.S., as well as universities and media houses in India and South Africa, to explain how Aftonbladet built the successful Election Buddies.

 

Contact

To contact a company representative about this campaign, click here for the INMA Member Directory