Central Florida Public Media Explores AI’s Role in Uniting Communities
January 28, 2025 at 2:13 PM EST
Central Florida Public Media is working with a group of ten public media organizations on a national project called “Seeking Common Ground,” which aims to better understand how communities communicate across divides.
The project uses AI technology developed by Cortico, a nonprofit affiliated with MIT’s Center for Constructive Communication, to identify patterns across conversations and help journalists better understand community concerns and perspectives. Participating outlets held a series of small listening sessions across the country; the insights gleaned were used to produce local and national content.
Central Florida Public Media’s Community Collaboration Director Rebecca Fernandez and News Director LaToya Dennis led the effort in Central Florida, conducting three local listening sessions, including one with members of the Muslim Women’s Organization. Among the participants were Dominique DiLorenzo, Yasemin Aksoy, Saadia Qureshi and Fatima Sadaf Saied, the organization’s founder. Insights from the discussion are featured in an NPR story about the immigrant experience, alongside voices from listening sessions hosted by Colorado Public Radio and KCUR in Kansas City.
While AI helped spot common themes across these conversations, the story itself – and all stories in the project – are written and edited by humans.
“The Central Florida Public Media newsroom is committed to building authentic relationships in communities,” Fernandez said. “This project gave us the opportunity to facilitate that commitment by increasing our ability to make connections across communities, to close the feedback loop and to more accurately tell community stories. We learned a lot about how AI can deepen our understanding and respond more meaningfully to our community.”
Central Florida Public Media received a one-year license for Cortico’s platform, which it will continue to use to support its vision to be an essential source for distinctive journalism — grounded in listening and committed to creating a safe but challenging space to broaden our understanding of each other and the world.
The project uses AI technology developed by Cortico, a nonprofit affiliated with MIT’s Center for Constructive Communication, to identify patterns across conversations and help journalists better understand community concerns and perspectives. Participating outlets held a series of small listening sessions across the country; the insights gleaned were used to produce local and national content.
Central Florida Public Media’s Community Collaboration Director Rebecca Fernandez and News Director LaToya Dennis led the effort in Central Florida, conducting three local listening sessions, including one with members of the Muslim Women’s Organization. Among the participants were Dominique DiLorenzo, Yasemin Aksoy, Saadia Qureshi and Fatima Sadaf Saied, the organization’s founder. Insights from the discussion are featured in an NPR story about the immigrant experience, alongside voices from listening sessions hosted by Colorado Public Radio and KCUR in Kansas City.
While AI helped spot common themes across these conversations, the story itself – and all stories in the project – are written and edited by humans.
“The Central Florida Public Media newsroom is committed to building authentic relationships in communities,” Fernandez said. “This project gave us the opportunity to facilitate that commitment by increasing our ability to make connections across communities, to close the feedback loop and to more accurately tell community stories. We learned a lot about how AI can deepen our understanding and respond more meaningfully to our community.”
Central Florida Public Media received a one-year license for Cortico’s platform, which it will continue to use to support its vision to be an essential source for distinctive journalism — grounded in listening and committed to creating a safe but challenging space to broaden our understanding of each other and the world.