First Daily Produced By Artificial Intelligence, Claims Italian Il Foglio

Italian newspaper Il Foglio has claimed a world-first by publishing an entire edition produced solely by artificial intelligence. The four-page special, titled Il Foglio AI, hit newsstands and online platforms on Tuesday as part of a month-long experiment exploring AI’s impact on journalism.

The newspaper’s editor, Claudio Cerasa, described the initiative as a way to showcase how AI influences both journalism and daily life. “It will be the first daily newspaper in the world on newsstands created entirely using artificial intelligence,” he said. “For everything. For the writing, the headlines, the quotes, the summaries. And, sometimes, even for the irony.” He clarified that the role of journalists had been reduced to inputting questions into an AI tool and reviewing the responses.

This bold experiment comes as media houses worldwide grapple with AI’s role in journalism. Earlier this month, The Guardian reported that BBC News was planning to use AI for personalised content. The question remains: can AI truly replace human journalists, or is it merely a tool for automation?

The front page of Il Foglio AI does not shy away from controversy. It features an article on former US President Donald Trump, criticising Italian supporters of Trump who oppose cancel culture yet “celebrate when their idol in the US behaves like the despot of a banana republic.” Another front-page story, titled Putin, the 10 Betrayals, explores two decades of what it describes as broken promises and abandoned agreements by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Inside, the AI-generated content continues with a report on “situationships” and how young Europeans are turning away from traditional relationships. In an unusually optimistic take on the Italian economy, another article analyses new income tax reforms that have benefited around 750,000 workers.

However, the experiment has raised significant questions about the role of human journalists. While the AI-generated articles are structured and grammatically correct, none contain direct quotes from human sources. The final page of Il Foglio AI features AI-generated letters to the editor, including one asking whether AI will eventually render humans obsolete. The AI’s response? “AI is a great innovation, but it doesn’t yet know how to order a coffee without getting the sugar wrong.”

Cerasa insists that Il Foglio AI is a legitimate newspaper, stating, “It is just another Foglio made with intelligence—don’t call it artificial.”