Four Questions with Isabel Lerch, NDR
Isabel Lerch is a data journalist with Germany’s public broadcaster NDR.
What's one fact about AI that everyone should know?
AI hallucinates! AI hallucinates! AI hallucinates! And always will!
How can we better understand the current AI hype?
As a LinkedIn-Addict, I am definitely a huge fan of certain channels, content creators and AI experts. For example, I really enjoy the hands-on newsletter by German AI expert Jan Eggers (“KI-Häppchen”). I also enjoy reading posts by AI expert Elisabeth L’Orange. She is really good at explaining new trends in the AI world, always keeping up with the pace and asking the right questions. A newsletter I really enjoy reading the AI newsletter by AI expert, speaker and podcast host Gregor Schmalzried as he always takes on a more philosophical and intellectual approach on AI topics. And lastly, I highly appreciate the summaries provided by the Handelsblatt “KI-Briefing” – a weekly dosis of the most important AI news regarding business trends, investments and AI companies.
Is there something you wish you'd built yourself?
Yes! Newspapers such as Zeit, Spiegel or Handelsblatt are allowed to create calculators for their audience. For example: Spiegel created “Gehaltsrechner 2025” – a super useful tool which is, I assume, very popular among the audience. It attracts attention and promotes interaction – and it is just an overall very exciting journalistic tool to use. But unfortunately, working for a public broadcaster, we as a data-driven team are not allowed to use these kind of tools.
Are we taking AI seriously enough in the media?
Yes – but this is not necessarily represented in the financial means we put into the monitoring, knowledge-building and implementation of AI. This is a general problem in media – there is so little money at the moment that it is difficult to push a reasonable chunk into the development of AI. So for media outlets, it is super difficult to balance out the investments needed to keep successful, existing formats and products alive and develop AI skills, knowledge and tools at the same time. Simply because it does cost a lot of money and time.
