I’ve written already about how chat is a trend to watch: An increasing number of news brands are building chat products using GenAI so their readers can quickly access exactly the information they are looking for (because, let’s face it, search functionality on most news Web sites is not very good).

It is part of a broader trend towards personalisation and handing control to the user of finding relevant content in a format that works best for them.

Here are three chat products that caught my eye in recent weeks:

Joannabot

This bot draws on the expertise of The Wall Street Journal’s tech columnist, Joanna Stern, and answers questions about the latest iPhone. After a week, the Journal ran a candid piece (all credit to them for their openness!) by Stern on how the bot was performing. 

Noteworthy: 

• They noticed the cost: “I could buy every reader of this column a granola bar for the cost of this project’s Google cloud bill,” Stern noted.

• The bot could be tricked into making inflammatory statements.

• It did hallucinate.

And yet, there were positives as well. “Joannabot could deliver personalised answers far faster than I ever could,” Stern wrote. “Plus, with no coding knowledge, I was able to improve its performance.”

Kamalabot

The San Francisco Chronicle built a chat product that answers its readers’ questions about U.S. presidential candidate Kamala Harris, drawing on 3,500 articles over three decades of the newspaper’s coverage of her since her career began in the region.

“The idea to build an archive-discovery tool focused on Harris sprung from an impromptu Sunday team call following the news that President Joe Biden was pulling out of the race for the presidency,” said Tim O’Rourke, vice president of content strategy. “What followed was weeks of collaboration, innovation, cautious decision-making, and buy-in from all levels of our organisation.”

Every question submitted goes through three checks before an answer is generated, the Chronicle tells readers. First, OpenAI’s moderation filter ensures the query does not contain offensive content, such as self-harm, hate speech, or violence. Then, the bot verifies whether the question pertains specifically to Harris. And finally, if the question is about where or how to vote, the reader is redirected elsewhere. 

“If no relevant information is found, the tool will suggest related articles instead of attempting to generate a response,” the Chronicle said. “To continually improve the service, we save questions submitted by readers. These questions help us update the FAQ section regularly and guide future reporting efforts.”

Leckerschmecker bot

Germany’s Funke Mediengruppe is weeks away from the launch of a new chat product that helps its readers find recipes on its Leckerschmecker food site. The reader can specify ingredients they would like to use and the bot will provide them with recipes. The reader can then ask for modifications, such as making a recipe vegetarian or requesting a substitute for an ingredient suggested. The bot will prompt them as well to seek further information.

The aim is to generate more pageviews per user and strengthen engagement with Leckerschmecker’s content since most readers come to the site, find a recipe, and leave.

“We think this will really drive engagement. Either they are happy with the recipe we give them — or they get another recipe from us that might be even more interesting for them,” said Paul Elvers, head of AI at Funke.

The bot will offer the reader many relevant recipe options for browsing as well as customisation options and will appear on both the Leckerschmecker homepage as well as on recipe article pages. 

The chat product will be monetised by advertisements on the article page. Funke is also considering integrating advertising into the bot itself, said Elvers.

Also on the road map: the ability for a user to upload a photograph of what is in their fridge and to ask what they should cook.

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