Rune Ytreberg

Doctoral research fellow at Oslo Metropolitan University - iTromsø

Rune Ytreberg is the data editor at iTromsø’s data lab, which uses AI to enhance journalism and develop new tools and services for 70 local newspapers in the Polaris Media group. He is also a PhD candidate in AI in journalism and affiliated with OsloMet’s research group for applied AI in journalism. The project is an industrial PhD funded by the Research Council of Norway, with Ytreberg conducting the research within the company. He holds a master’s degree in business journalism, where he applied plagiarism detection to identify intertextuality and textual similarity between press releases from the oil industry and news articles about planned oil drilling in Lofoten. Ytreberg has taught investigative data journalism at Norwegian universities for 15 years and has received several awards for AI-driven editorial product development in investigative journalism. He is a frequent speaker and lecturer on applied AI at international journalism conferences and workshops.

Tell us about your project!

The Journ-AI-list project explores how local journalists can act as entrepreneurs in developing AI-supported editorial tools and products, particularly aimed at local information needs. Through participatory action research and service design, the PhD candidate will guide journalists in independently developing and testing prototypes in collaboration with media users. The project investigates both the technological potential and the ethical challenges of AI integration, with a focus on trust, transparency, and the journalist’s role as a “human in the loop.” It combines sociotechnical systems theory and innovation theory to analyze the interaction between technology, work practices, and user needs. A central goal is to generate new knowledge on how newsrooms can lead AI-driven innovation without compromising journalistic values. The focus is on sustainable innovation, user involvement, and building competence for the ethical use of generative AI in local journalism and communities.

“The project investigates both the technological potential and the ethical challenges of AI integration, with a focus on trust, transparency, and the journalist’s role as a “human in the loop”

— Rune Ytreberg on his research project “Journ-AI-list”