Using AI to Customize Content & Connect Readers

Discover how AI can help newsrooms foster healthier, cross-partisan conversations, calm heated comment threads, and better connect with diverse audiences. This session offers research-backed, practical tips for using AI to create more constructive social media posts, summarize online comments to reduce toxicity, and turn traditional story formats into easy-to-read content like bullet lists and Q&As. We’ll also explore how AI can help you tailor your stories to fit specific audiences, like younger readers.

// speakers

Ava Motes

Research Associate

Center for Media Engagement, The University of Texas at Austin

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Ava Motes is a Research Associate at the Center for Media Engagement (CME). CME leads efforts to understand and improve the information ecosystem by developing research-driven strategies that help newsrooms, platforms, and communities navigate a changing information environment. Ava’s work primarily focuses on how newsrooms can ethically leverage artificial intelligence to enhance coverage, address reporting challenges, and better serve audiences. Ava holds a B.A. in Plan II Honors and a B.J. in Journalism from The University of Texas at Austin. She has put her research into practice through collaborations with publications such as The Texas Tribune, CalMatters, and Texas Highways. She has also worked as a freelance journalist covering Texas food, culture, and civic life.