How do you bring AI into a newsroom as big and globally distributed as the BBC, an editorial network that stretches across 42 languages and more than 5,000 journalists?
This week on Newsroom Robots, I sit down with Olle Zachrison, Head of News AI at BBC News, where he leads the BBC’s efforts to advance AI use and strengthen its journalism and audience experiences. Previously the Head of AI at Swedish Radio, Olle has spent the past few years implementing practical newsroom AI workflows while upholding public-service values.
In our conversation, Olle breaks down BBC’s four-part AI strategy, covering large-scale translation and transcription, content reformatting, investigative tools, and early experiments with synthetic audio and conversational news. He shares what’s working inside one of the world’s largest news organizations, what routinely stalls AI projects, and why the most challenging part of AI transformation isn’t the technology but the collaboration required across editorial, product, and engineering. Olle also reflects on what it means to innovate as a public broadcaster in an AI-driven ecosystem, and why archives, credibility, and direct audience relationships will determine which journalism remains indispensable in the years ahead.
In this episode, we cover:
03:39 – The BBC’s four-part AI strategy: Boosting productivity, reformatting content, augmenting journalism, and innovating user experience as the core themes
05:10 – Using AI for large-scale transcription, tagging, live pages, alt text, newsletter production, and translation to save time and make content more searchable.
06:59 – Why AI-assisted translation is one of the BBC’s most advanced use case, and how human sub-editors remain essential to uphold editorial responsibility.
08:17 – Reformatting content across platforms and formats
20:59 – Innovating user experiences with synthetic audio and conversational formats
31:59 – How the BBC uses strategic themes, clear metrics, and fast pilots to decide what’s worth building and scaling
46:59 – Inside the BBC’s fine-tuned LLM and Style Assist
52:01 – What it means to be a public broadcaster in an AI-driven ecosystem
01:02:58 – Olle’s personal AI stack
🎧 Listen to the full conversation with Olle Zacharison on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
