Media Matters for Democracy Launches ‘Sahafat.AI’ — A Groundbreaking Initiative to Integrate Artificial Intelligence in Pakistani Newsrooms

Islamabad, 30th June 2025 — Media Matters for Democracy (MMfD) is pleased to formally announce the launch of Sahafat. AI, a pioneering initiative aimed at transforming newsroom workflows in Pakistan through the responsible and context-specific integration of artificial intelligence (AI). This strategic programme represents a major advancement in MMfD’s ongoing mission to strengthen independent journalism through technological innovation, capacity building, and institutional support.

As artificial intelligence reshapes the global information ecosystem, MMfD has consistently maintained that AI, if implemented ethically and thoughtfully, holds immense potential to support and elevate journalism. Rather than displacing journalists, MMfD envisions AI as a force multiplier, empowering media professionals with tools that enhance their capabilities, safeguard editorial independence, and contribute to the sustainability of the media sector.

Under the Sahafat.AI initiative, MMfD will collaborate with three of Pakistan’s leading newsrooms throughout 2025 to develop and deploy customised AI enterprise solutions, tailored to the unique editorial workflows, content priorities, and institutional structures of each newsroom. These AI solutions will be implemented across several core areas of journalistic work, including:

• Information management
• Research and data analysis
• Content discovery, trend monitoring, and predictive modelling
• Verification and fact-checking assistance
• Editorial planning and workflow optimisation
• Audience insights and engagement strategies

Each participating newsroom will also receive targeted training modules to ensure that editorial staff are fully equipped to work with these AI tools, not only as end-users but as informed collaborators capable of adapting them to their evolving needs.

“As part of our continued engagement with editors and journalists over the past year, we’ve encountered both the excitement and concern surrounding AI’s role in journalism,” said Asad Baig, Executive Director of MMfD. “With Sahafat.AI, we are moving from conversation to implementation, anchoring this work in editorial realities, not tech abstraction. “This initiative is about giving newsrooms the tools to lead their own digital transformation.”

Sahafat.AI aligns with MMfD’s broader institutional philosophy: that technology in journalism must be human-centric, rights-based, and guided by the industry itself. This initiative represents a deliberate step toward developing newsroom-driven, ethically grounded AI applications that support—not supplant—the work of journalists.