Inside Reuters’ AI playbook: Why Jane Barrett says journalism can’t afford to sit this one out

Apr 25, 2025

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Jane Barrett, Head of AI Strategy at Reuters, joins The Media Copilot to share how one of the world’s largest news agencies is actively shaping the future of AI in journalism—without crossing the line on trust.

AI is rewriting the rules of content, but who’s writing the rules for AI in newsrooms? At Reuters, Jane Barrett is making sure they’re not written for them. As Head of AI Strategy, Barrett has led one of the most ambitious and thoughtful integrations of artificial intelligence in a major newsroom—balancing innovation with editorial ethics at every step.

This week on The Media Copilot, I talk to Barrett about how Reuters went from “wait and see” to “lead and shape” when it comes to generative AI. From building new workflows to launching the Reuters AI Suite, the global news agency isn’t just experimenting—it’s operationalizing.

In our conversation, we cover:

How Reuters got its 2,500+ journalists to embrace AI tools without fearing obsolescence
Why generative video and imagery are off-limits—and what that says about editorial values
The tension between using AI for speed and preserving the nuance of human reporting
Why Reuters’ B2B AI Suite is less about automation and more about augmentation
The hard truths about “publicly available” content and how publishers are fighting back

Barrett also shares the internal strategy behind launching AI products for business customers, how trust and transparency guide every deployment, and why AI shouldn’t be viewed as a newsroom shortcut—but a newsroom collaborator.

If you’ve ever wondered how legacy media can innovate without compromising its soul, this episode is a masterclass in doing just that.

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This episode of The Media CoPilot was produced by Pete Pachal, Executive Producer Michele Musso, and with video/audio editing by the Musso Media team. Produced by Musso Media. © 2025 Musso Media. All rights reserved.

Music: Favorite by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 4.0 License https://filmmusic.io/song/4855-favorite