Anders Thoresson joins Medier & demokrati

The project will establish and accelerate competitively neutral media-related technological development with a strong emphasis on AI and data-driven journalism, and business-, product-, production- and distribution development. 

The ambition is long-term, but the initiative is currently scheduled to run through June 2021. The media corporations will carry out preliminary studies and projects together and, as parties associated with AI Innovation of Sweden, they have the opportunity to initiate and participate in cross-industry initiatives.

Bridge between operations and technology

Anders Thoresson will be the initiative's first project manager. In addition to being a trained journalist, he is a lecturer, moderator, author and the founder and driving force behind the podcast Digitalsamtal, which is focussed on technological development from a societal perspective.

- Over the past two-three years, a certain reasoning has emerged in a great many interviews that I have done relating to digitalisation and artificial intelligence: There is a need for people who understand both the technology and the organisation who can serve as a bridge between those who are experts in the technology and those who are experts in the operations. I believe and hope that I can be such a person in this context, says Anders.

He spent his first five years a journalist working at Ny Teknik. First as a reporter, then as an editorial secretary and project manager. 

Why did you accept this project manager position?

- Because I think that media and journalism still have a very important role to play in an open democracy. And because artificial intelligence and other technical solutions will play a central role in how the task is carried out and appears with respect to both the editorial work and on the business side. Hopefully, technology can be a tool for building sustainable business models, which is an example of what we will work with in the project, he says.