---
title: Krakow conversations
description: AI dominates the agenda for WAN-IFRA
---

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# Krakow conversations

[Alan Hunter](https://www.hbmadvisory.com/media-hunter/author/alan-hunter)  09 May 2025

 3 min read

**AI dominates the agenda for WAN-IFRA**

The start of this week was all about WAN-IFRA’s World News Media Congress in Krakow. It was the usual stimulating event with contributions from far and wide. Michael and I were delighted to be asked to present. Here’s a [write-up](https://tomorrowspublisher.today/editors-picks/our-challenge-to-publishers-use-ai-to-change-your-business-like-we-have-ours/) of our talk.

Unsurprisingly the conversation in and out of the conference halls was dominated by the threat/opportunity of AI to the publishing industry. But there was plenty else besides.

Instead of a report, here are some notable quotes from the stage. I think together they give a flavour of the whole.

“AI is not a rupture – it’s a continuation. We have been dealing with transformation for the past 20 years” – Fabian Heckenberger, Süddeutsche Zeitung

“People want to connect with human voices … AI is powerful but it can’t read between the lines. It doesn’t understand unspoken nuances” – Catherine So, South China Morning Post

“You have to do personalisation at the very top of the homepage” – Tarjei Gilbrant, Kilkaya

ChatGPT’s answers are “better than the traditional bland and inefficient list of 10 blue links” – Tom Rubin, OpenAI (ouch!)

“ChatGPT is not replacing Google search any time soon. Its numbers are a rounding error compared with Google’s” – Barry Adams, Polemic Digital

“Readers spend 36% longer on stories that have ‘key points’ \[aka summaries\] on them” – Jessica Davis, Gannett

“How will you prepare for a future where your journalism is seen, but your brand is not?” – Nikita Roy, Newsroom Robots Lab

“I feel like I’m running a crisis management company with a newsroom attached” – Roman Imielski, Agora

“I enjoy these conferences but I feel that sometimes people go home, forget everything they’ve heard and just get stuck back into their day jobs” – Anonymous CEO at Krakow airport

I hope the attendees don’t do that this time. There’s no time to waste.

## Next blog post

<https://www.hbmadvisory.com/media-hunter/who-buys-newspapers>

## [Who buys newspapers?](https://www.hbmadvisory.com/media-hunter/who-buys-newspapers)

[Read more](https://www.hbmadvisory.com/media-hunter/who-buys-newspapers)

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