Axel Springer wants to separate employees from the news app Upday next year – and replace them with artificial intelligence. In a statement from the publishing house It is said that the aim is to test what opportunities “this technology creates for journalism and the news industry”. Upday is scheduled to launch in summer 2024 as an AI-based “trend news generator,” and the name will remain the same.
Upday emerged from a partnership between Samsung and Axel Springer in 2015. The promise: News should be compactly bundled and curated for Samsung users. But location and user behavior are also crucial for the content displayed. The app is preinstalled on Samsung cell phones, but it is now also available for Apple users. Over the years, Upday for Samsung has expanded to more than 30 countries. The collaboration between the publisher and the technology group will now be ended and Springer Upday GmbH and Co. KG will be closed.
The dpa and the media portal Kress report that all Upday employees must leave by mid-2025 at the latest – currently there are around 70 employees across Europe. There was already a wave of layoffs at Upday last June. In order to “keep the app healthy and competitive,” 51 employees had to leave. The official reason was declining advertising revenue. Even back then, there were fears among the workforce that AI could replace employees.
According to Axel Springer, it terminated its previous collaboration with Samsung at the end of the year. Friday’s announcement states that they want to operate the Upday brand “initially on a smaller scale” with AI.