Otherweb’s Alex Fink: Curating Trustworthy News in the Age of Misinformation

Otherweb's Mission: Elevating News Quality and Combating Misinformation

In a world saturated with information, separating fact from fiction has become increasingly challenging. Alex Fink, the visionary founder of the Otherweb curated news app, recognized this problem and set out to create a solution. In an exclusive interview on the Software Spotlight podcast, Fink shared his company's innovative approach to curating trustworthy news content and combating the spread of misinformation.

Born in the Soviet Union, Fink witnessed firsthand the consequences of a society consuming propaganda. “I saw what happens to a society when everybody around you is consuming propaganda all the time,” he recalled. This experience left a lasting impression on him, fueling his determination to help people make informed decisions based on accurate information.

Curated News App: Filters Out the Noise with AI

At the core of Otherweb's solution is an AI-powered app that evaluates the quality of news articles based on factors like objectivity, informativeness, and adherence to journalistic standards. “We developed a bunch of small AI models that evaluate content quality,” Fink explained. “Each model would evaluate the article or any other type of content along one trait.”

By analyzing the content itself, rather than relying solely on the source, Otherweb's app can surface high-quality articles while filtering out clickbait, misinformation, and low-quality content. “We don't try to say that all the articles from a particular source are bad, all the articles from the source are good,” Fink clarified. “Every source has a distribution.”

Listen And Share This Software Spotlight Podcast

Watch And Share This Software Spotlight Podcast

In this exclusive interview, Alex Fink, founder of Otherweb, unveils his innovative approach to curating trustworthy news content. Discover how his AI-powered app filters out misinformation, delivers personalized news briefs, and drives traffic back to sources, fostering a healthier information ecosystem.

Marty the Martian: Your Personal News Concierge

One of Otherweb's latest features is a “news concierge” called Marty the Martian. Users can ask for news on specific topics, and the app will provide a customized brief with summaries of the best articles, complete with references to the sources.

“The idea is you don't have to go through a feed and read hundreds of items to find the three that you like,” Fink explained. “Just formulate your question the way you have it in your mind, and you'll get these three items already summarized for you in a single news brief.”

Respecting Intellectual Property and Driving Traffic

Fink emphasized Otherweb's commitment to respecting intellectual property rights and driving traffic back to the original content creators. The app's summaries and references ensure that users can easily access the full articles from the source websites.

“We have to give something in return for using that content even as input,” Fink said. “And what we give is a certain amount of traffic that goes back to these websites that created the content in the first place. That's a fair exchange.”

Ensuring Transparency and Accountability

To maintain transparency and accountability as the platform grows, Otherweb has taken steps to bind itself to its mission of improving information quality. The company is registered as a public benefit corporation, with a fiduciary duty to maximize its objective alongside shareholder value.

Additionally, Otherweb makes its stable AI models publicly available on platforms like Hugging Face, allowing users to audit and review the technology behind the app.

The Future of News: Personalized and AI-Generated

Fink envisions a future where AI-generated content becomes the norm, with articles tailored to individual preferences and consumption habits. However, he acknowledges the need for a new system to fund investigative journalism and fact-finding efforts that uncover real information about the world.

“As AI gets better at things like writing, it will change the financial incentives for everybody,” Fink said. “The marginal cost of creating another article is zero, right? If you already have a hundred, what's the cost of creating the hundred and first, exactly zero dollars. And that changes the incentives for everyone.”

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