Madrid, April 27 (EFE).- Representatives of twenty-three international news agencies analyze in Madrid how to apply technologies such as artificial intelligence and data to carry out their work and offer a better service to their clients.

The Minds Consortium (Media Innovation Network), in which 23 agencies from Europe, America, Asia and Oceania participate, brings together executives in Madrid who exchange experiences on informational, commercial and technological aspects for two days.

Thus, in this meeting organized by the EFE Agency, they discuss how to become a news agency based on data, how to take advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) for video collaboration, digital transformation, new products capable of reach new audiences and how to earn new revenue.

For the executive director of MINDS, Martjin Bennis, greater investment in technologies is necessary, especially in artificial intelligence, which can help in the information processes of agencies, as he explained to EFE during a break in the meeting.

The consortium’s chief executive, Wolfgang Nedomansky, acknowledged fears about AI, but also noted the “opportunities” it can bring.

It’s about “how to use artificial intelligence correctly”, according to Nedomansky, who acknowledged that it is a “common dilemma” for the media, but argued that the goal is “to produce content more effectively”.

“We need to offer new services based on AI,” said the general manager, for whom this is not only an issue that affects agencies, but the media in general.

Data can also help find stories to cover and tell customers, he added.

For Bennis, how to find new income – another of the topics of the Madrid meeting – has no easy answer, but it is about giving “added value” to the services provided to subscribers.

“There are services that can be shared and that would be cheaper for clients than if they developed them,” added the MINDS leader.

Another of the issues present at the meeting is the verification of information or fact-checking, an interesting path, but without forgetting – according to Bennis – that journalists must be verifiers and nothing can be published that has not been previously checked.

Since the creation of the international MINDS network in 2007, new partners have been integrated and it is currently made up of twenty-three entities, including the main agencies integrated into the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA), such as EFE; the American Associated Press, the Japanese Kyodo, the Turkish AA, the Australian AAP or the Canadian CP.

In addition to the interventions of the directors of agencies, the MINDS meeting in Madrid counts on the participation of guests such as Caro Kriel, general manager of the Thomson Foundation; Greg Pichota, resident researcher at the International News Media Association; Rosalía Lloret, general director of elDiario.es (Spain), and Ángel Villarino, deputy director of El Confidencial (Spain).

The meeting was opened today by the president of the EFE Agency, Gabriela Cañas, for whom the agencies “are more essential than ever”.

Indeed, faced with the networks’ ability to disseminate disinformation, they offer their customers and citizens the security of respecting “very important ethical and deontological standards”: “In the near future we will experience the splendor of news from the news agencies press,” he said.