Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ ‘Distribution is something computers can do better’: The Globe and Mail’s AI startup begins to make in-roads

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

If you're like me, when you get to this article you'll be greeted with a notice that says "We hope you enjoyed your first free article. Become a Digiday subscriber for $349 a year with unlimited access." That's not going to happen, of course, because it's way over my budget for a niche publication. But I do pay for some internet services (ranging from Feedly to No Man's Sky to Netflix to baseball) and the idea here is to offer me free content that the publishers think will convert me to a paying subscriber. That's what the Globe and Mail's new AI Sophi does. It "uses natural language processing and machine learning to do things like assess the likelihood that particular users or pieces of content will convert to subscriptions." And like the Washington Post's platform Arc XP, "Sophi's long-term goal, Edall said, is to move beyond the media business, and it has made inroads with non-media clients; Sophi has added the financial services company CIBC as a client, Edall said, using the software to automate its marketing messaging."

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
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Last Updated: Apr 26, 2024 8:27 p.m.

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