In this Duke journalism class, failure was part of the assignment. It led to real AI tools for local news. - Poynter

"For the course we called the AI Journalism Lab, we needed to make the 14 students comfortable with building things that don't necessarily work the first time (or the second time ... or the third time ...). They also needed to realize that ultimately their projects might not work. In the syllabus, we wrote that 'failure IS an option. Some tools will work, others won't. But you'll learn from both.'"

"The course was truly a lab. We taught the basics of AI and how to automate tedious and at times demoralizing human work. But the main goal was for the students to help local media organizations use AI. They began the semester by meeting with local editors and reporters to identify time-consuming and mundane tasks that could benefit from AI tools."

"We did a Post-it exercise so we could select realistic projects that would have an impact, and then the students began to build. They tackled these projects: A grocery tracker that would show the ups and downs of prices at local supermarkets; A meeting analyzer that would look through city council agendas for possible stories; A tool to help a reporter see what public records were being requested by competitors."

Duke University's AI Journalism Lab course taught 14 students to develop artificial intelligence tools for local media organizations. The instructors prioritized creating a culture where failure was acceptable, recognizing that perfectionist students needed to learn iterative development. Students met with local editors and reporters to identify mundane, time-consuming tasks suitable for automation. Through a Post-it exercise, they selected realistic projects with genuine impact. The students developed five tools: a grocery price tracker, a meeting analyzer for city council agendas, a public records request monitor, an email newsletter aggregator, and a cultural calendar website scanner. These projects ranged from minimum viable products to fully functional tools applicable across journalism organizations.

Read at Poynter