At The Beacon, we are dedicated to combining trusted journalistic principles with cutting-edge technology. As newsrooms across the country explore AI tools to enhance their reporters’ capacity, we are excited to announce that The Beacon is entering the field with a running start by joining 27 other news organizations in receiving from AJP’s Product & AI Studio in 2025. The American Journalism Project is already a significant supporter of The Beacon’s work.

Starting early 2025, we will work alongside a cohort focused on leveraging artificial intelligence to unlock civic data for impact. 

Don’t worry, we won’t be producing stories with AI. Rather, we’ll be learning how reporters can use AI tools to produce richer, more data-driven stories.

The group’s focus will be on experimenting with tools that use AI to analyze public records and civic data. This capability will allow journalists to quickly sift through civic datasets, surfacing key insights that will help inspire and inform future reporting.

This initiative will also help us leverage AI to transform public meeting transcripts and records into compelling story ideas, uncovering critical insights from audio transcripts through partners like Gigafact. We’ll explore how to improve existing search functionality and language accessibility on our website, helping users find exactly what they’re looking for faster. Our team will also gain insights from Stanford University’s Big Local News to build data tools that leverage local municipal records.

Through this partnership and grant funding, we will become part of a collaborative network where newsrooms tackle challenges side by side, sharing lessons to benefit the broader field — and readers. 

We’ll have access to a supportive environment for ethical AI experimentation, empowering us to innovate strategically and expand our impact in greater Kansas City. As we adopt AI powered tools to increase transparency and accessibility around civic data, you — our readers — will find clear designations on our website.