TIME is making its boldest move to date to revolutionize how readers interact with its journalism through artificial intelligence. We are unveiling today the , a cohesive, AI-powered platform built upon a foundation of credible reporting and cutting-edge generative technology. This Agent is designed not just to inform, but to engage.

This endeavor follows more than a year of development and two prior introductions. Earlier this year, we rolled out personalized daily audio briefs—brief, natural-sounding updates that delivered crucial stories directly to listeners. In December 2024, TIME, in collaboration with Scale AI, initiated an experiment: a generative experience connected to its acclaimed Person of the Year franchise, conceptualized to present it in a fresh, interactive format.

Why It’s Important

For more than a hundred years, TIME has assisted readers in comprehending current events. The contemporary challenge isn’t a lack of information, but rather a lack of meaning. The TIME AI Agent aims to close this gap by providing a smart, tailored experience that enhances global understanding for its audience.

Created alongside Scale AI, this agent converts TIME’s journalism into an active, adaptive system. It complements, rather than supplants, editorial judgment, by rooting itself in context, insight, and the foundational standards that have characterized TIME since 1923.

The agent is engineered for an innovative form of interaction, allowing readers not just to consume news but to delve into it dynamically, spanning various formats, languages, and viewpoints.

Capabilities of the TIME AI Agent

The TIME AI Agent presents a fundamentally novel approach to engaging with news and narratives. It integrates language comprehension, voice generation, translation, and search into one fluid interface. Users can pose queries, produce summaries, generate audio narratives, or translate articles, all within a unified experience.

Key Functions

  • Summarization: Provides succinct overviews in text or audio format, condensing intricate reports into understandable key points.
  • Translation: Extends TIME’s journalism to a worldwide readership by supporting 13 languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, and Russian.
  • Audio Generation: Converts written articles instantly into natural-sounding audio briefings, reflecting TIME’s distinct tone.
  • Intelligent Search: Accesses insights from over a century of reporting via sophisticated semantic and hybrid search functionalities.
  • Real-Time Interaction: Facilitates dynamic conversational engagement that adjusts to user intent across diverse subjects and interaction types.

For example, readers can produce a five-minute audio summary of recent interviews with global leaders, emphasizing crucial themes and quotations. Alternatively, they can simulate a multilingual debate, drawing from historical coverage, on a question such as “Is AI beneficial for humanity?” Users can also request recent headlines or reliable advice on subjects like health, entertainment, and climate, all grounded in TIME’s journalistic expertise.

Designed for Trust and Scalability

The TIME AI Agent is constructed on the foundational principles that have always guided TIME: accuracy, transparency, and accountability. Each component of its design, from data management to output oversight, serves to safeguard the integrity of TIME’s journalistic output.

It functions under rigorous editorial safeguards:

  • Attribution and citation are maintained consistently in every interaction.
  • Input filters block prompts that are manipulative or harmful.
  • Red Team testing subjects the system to adversarial assessment to guarantee its resilience and dependability.

The TIME AI Agent signifies the third stage of TIME’s continuous collaboration with Scale AI. What commenced as an experimental venture in interactive storytelling has evolved into a platform enabling personalized, credible interaction with audiences worldwide.