Kalli Purie, Vice-Chairperson and Editor-in-Chief of the India Today Group, has stressed the critical importance of human-centered journalism as artificial intelligence increasingly integrates into newsrooms. Speaking at SPIEF 2026, Purie outlined strategies for news organizations to distinguish themselves in an era dominated by automated content generation.
Emphasizing Original Content and "Handmade" Journalism
Purie unveiled India Today's "Handmade" editorial initiative, specifically designed to encourage journalists to produce stories deeply rooted in personal experience and on-the-ground reporting. "We tried to create an entire subsection called handmade by editors and reporters... focusing on what they saw, what they heard rather than a more vanilla report," she stated. This approach aims to add gravity to the reporting and foster a stronger connection with readers by bringing them closer to the realities experienced by field reporters.
The "AI Sandwich" Model for Efficiency and Oversight
Under India Today's model, journalists remain central to the editorial process, involved at both the beginning and the end. Purie described this as the "AI sandwich," where AI is utilized in the middle to boost efficiency and productivity. She explained, "Our newsroom is something called the AI sandwich, which is that you start with a human, you have AI in between to increase efficiency... but then it again ends with a human touch or a human print so that the final approval remains with humans."
Ethical Concerns: AI Lacks Conscience
Echoing Purie's sentiments, Maria Zakharova, Director of the press department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, emphasized that AI should serve as a tool to augment human capabilities, not replace them. Zakharova cautioned against over-reliance on AI, highlighting its fundamental lack of conscience. She warned that prioritizing convenience over human values could lead to severe societal consequences. "AI does not have a conscience... losing conscience as a benchmark for human development can lead to very bad results," Zakharova asserted.