May 2025 update
Jinfo Blog

By Stephen Phillips

Abstract

• News and AI – what next?
• Do you have AI anxiety? You are not alone
• Information managers = AI enablers
• Are you managing these rapidly-expanding vendor categories?
• Jinfo Community - get more value from your vendor negotiations.

Item

News and AI – what next?

There has been a lot of interest in a number of developments in the use of AI for news and current awareness. These include the launch of AI tools on Dow Jones Factiva and The Financial Times, as well as enhanced search and research capabilities on the likes of ChatGPT.

Our March Community session "News and AI - what's next and why pay?" featured a lively discussion about the implications of using free AI sites for news and the implications for news provision strategy and the premium providers.

All of these discussions are captured in our new Jinfo article, with further insights and practical actions in our new report:

• Article: "How should information managers respond to the call to use free AI tools for news?"
• Report: "How are information managers and vendors adapting to the convergence of news and AI?"

Do you have AI anxiety? You are not alone

Our ongoing conversations with information managers reveal high levels of anxiety about AI within their teams.

Although AI is moving exponentially quickly, there are still significant risks associated with technology that gets things wrong in ways that matter.

Based on our discussions, most organisations are not as "AI advanced" as they would have you believe. They remain risk averse and cautious despite the continued hype.

So there is a window of opportunity for information managers: your judgment becomes more crucial as you evolve from doing the work, to orchestrating and validating the work of AI systems.

As one colleague noted:

"We need to be the first people asking and answering questions about AI, before someone else does it for us."

Our free-to-read Jinfo blog explores ways to future-proof your team, and position them to work with AI as an enabler:

• Blog: "Why AI should enhance – not replace – your research team"

Information managers = AI enablers

Developing the AI skills of the information team and the wider workforce should be a priority.

This is not just a case of knowing which buttons to push, i.e. the digital literacy. The information literacy needed to use these systems, which are often "confidently wrong", runs much deeper.

Prompting skills, critical evaluation, source and domain knowledge, data integrity, ethics and bias are important skills AI users need to possess to realise the full potential of AI.

This item explains why information managers cannot "sit this one out" and have a pivotal role in their organisations AI strategy:

• Blog: "Bridging the AI gap: why education can't be an afterthought"

Then get our insights into the most successful end-user training strategies, current trends and future priorities:

• Report: "Jinfo research into end-user training strategy"

Are you managing these rapidly-expanding vendor categories?

Data marketplaces are a relatively new, and a rapidly-expanding way of acquiring data cost effectively and "just in time".

Read our recommendations for information managers to get more involved, by leveraging all the existing systems and processes that manage the existing content vendor portfolio:

• Article: "Why information management skills are critical for managing data marketplaces"

Expert networks, on the other hand, have been around for sometime, but have been expanding rapidly over the last 10 years.

We've had such a good response to our article "Why information managers should manage expert-network vendors", that we've summarised some of the key points in a blog item.

Getting more value from vendor negotiations

Vendor negotiations are not getting any easier, and whilst it may not be possible to get costs down, information managers can get more value from their vendor negotiations.

Our next Jinfo Community session features Dan McGovern, the former Global Head of Sales, Moody's BvD:

• Community: "Contract negotiation clinic" (22nd May 2025)

Dan will share insights from the other side of the (negotiating) table to build collaborative relationships, drive value for both parties and achieve better outcomes.

Register here

Jinfo Subscription

We were delighted to receive this subscriber testimonial recently from an information manager in financial services:

"I really enjoyed the last Community session. The conversation always gets me thinking in new ways about how my group can be adopting AI or helping to drive AI uptake internally."

If your organisation doesn't have a Jinfo Subscription yet, read about the benefits, or book a walk-through.

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