Case Study #23 Revolutionizing Global Journalism: Alchemiq's AI Co-Pilot Tackles $40 Billion Industry Challenges

Orr Hirschauge, founder of Alchemiq, recently shared insights on integrating AI into journalism. With 20 years of media experience, he's developing tools to enhance newsroom efficiency and global coverage. Alchemiq's AI platform assists in story discovery and multilingual news tracking. Hirschauge discussed the challenges of innovating in traditional media and his vision for AI-assisted journalism that maintains human expertise while diversifying news sources.

Company:
Alchemiq

Founded:
2024

Headquarters:
Tel Aviv, Israel

Key Highlights:

If you only have a few minutes to spare, here's what leaders and founders should know about Orr Hirschauge's insights on AI and entrepreneurship in journalism:

• Transparent, responsible AI tools can diversify the media landscape by incorporating a wider range of sources and perspectives.
• AI platforms can act as co-pilots for editors and journalists, enhancing story discovery and research capabilities.
• Multilingual news tracking is crucial for more nuanced and comprehensive global coverage.
• Pivoting from a consumer-facing platform to industry partnerships proved more effective for driving change.
• Offering both SaaS and managed service models can be complementary, not contradictory.
• A major challenge is convincing investors of the potential in transforming news media, despite industry challenges.
• The 10-year vision is AI-driven transformation in journalism, creating a better-informed world across languages and regions.
• AI is predicted to change human consciousness, enabling bigger thinking, but with potential geopolitical and cognitive influence risks.
  

Your Story: Tell us about your path to becoming a founder.  

For nearly 20 years I worked in journalism, sometimes for US-based publications, and other times for Israel-based organizations. I am passionate about journalism, but I'm also aware of the industry's challenges and shortcomings. I think journalism is important--too important to be left to itself. The company we founded aims to change the industry, putting the news consumer in the center. We aim to make the news landscape less uniform, and more diverse in its sources and perspectives. The challenge drove me to become an entrepreneur. 

The Elevator Pitch: Give us your startup's pitch in 2-3 punchy sentences. 

Alchemiq builds a transparent, responsible generative AI suite for newsrooms that’s already been rolled out with great feedback. Unlike other solutions, we believe generative AI should be deeply integrated into the editorial process while ensuring that journalists remain at the heart of the news.

Our platform acts as a co-pilot for editors and journalists, helping with story discovery, research, and more. One of its standout features is a news tracker capable of processing vast amounts of multilingual information. It offers a more nuanced and comprehensive view than what is currently out there. 

Your Idea in the Early Days: What was the 'Aha' moment that led to your startup? 

For over a decade, I've been zigzagging between local newspapers and international media. There's a chasm between the two and an underserved audience-local news lacks a broader context, and international news lacks nuance and on-the-ground reportage. These experiences amalgamated into a conception of a new type of news gathering. 

Market Insight and Early Customers: How did you identify market gaps and acquire your first 10/100/1000 users/customers?

By being intimate with the industry's challenges. 

Pivots: Were there any major pivots that you had to make in the early days? 

Initially, we thought of our product as a consumer-facing platform. While we still think this is worthwhile chasing, it is easier, the impact of partnering with the industry and change things from the inside. 

Growth: What strategies really moved the needle for your business when it comes to growth? 

We offer both a SaaS model and a managed service. At the outset, these looked like opposites that could not be combined. We found that they are actually complementary and clients like to have both options.

Biggest challenge/s: Every startup faces hurdles. What were your biggest challenges, financial or otherwise, and how did you tackle them?

Our biggest challenge is convincing investors not to despair of attempts to change news media. Yes, this is a red ocean and a challenged industry. It is still a $40 billion-a-year industry and growing, and new technologies are now turning this red ocean into a blue one.

Building the Brand: What's the story behind your company name & brand? Any unique marketing approaches that worked wonders?

The name represents both our philosophy and our product: we fuse incoming streams of information together in a way that makes them something new and better.

AI in Action: How are you leveraging AI in your business?

We leverage LLM to create a new kind of news knowledge graph that integrates news from all over the world and fuses them together. 

Game-Changing Tools: What are the top 3 AI products or tools that have transformed how you run your business?

Off-the-shelf text generation. Each generation is a leap forward.

Future Vision: What's your 10-year vision for your company? What milestones are you aiming for in the next 3/5/10 years?

To be at the center of the gen AI transformation in journalism and brand journalism. We envision a world that is better informed, cross-languages, and cross-regions. We envision re-instituting productive public debate instead of triggering moral outrage or group confirmation. The goals for the next 3-5 years are to be used as the main source for news tracking in news orgs, and as a major news creation platform.

Team Building: Are you hiring? What roles are you looking to fill?

We will hire in the coming months. We'd like to hire people with technical skills who understand the news and see beyond the algorithm to the impact on the world.

Words of Wisdom: Any insights or advice you'd like to share with fellow entrepreneurs?

Solve distribution. Better will always have customers.

AI's Future and AGI: How will AI transform society in the next decade? Do you think we'll achieve AGI, and why or why not?

AI changes human consciousness. By iterating faster and automating the "mechanic" part of thought we can look farther into the horizons, People working with AI can imagine bigger and better. The risks are also huge. New geo-political forces will rise. Small tech-savvy, resource-rich countries will become power brokers, using a new kind of resource, and exterior factors will increasingly influence our own thought mechanisms. This was always the case, but pace and intensity rise sharply.

17. Ethical AI: How can we ensure AI systems remain safe, ethical, and aligned with human values as they advance?

Fight fire with fire. Let AI fight the inherent flaws of AI and work for humanity and not against it.

18. AI vs. Human Intelligence: In your view, what are the fundamental limits of AI compared to human intelligence?

Truth-tethering.

Interview with
Orr Hirschauge
Co-founder @ Alchemiq