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We're at the beginning of something better
The case for optimism in media: It's never been a better time to go independent and start a newsroom. From an edited talk at the fjum AI Day in Vienna.
June 15, 2026
Verso is an AI studio for media innovators who'd rather shape the future than get shaped by it.
Tools & products
We build AI tools for newsrooms, journalists, and creators that push what's possible. We ship fast, turning the latest research into working products.
- Re:verb: Listens to every new episode of your favorite podcasts and sends you a quick summary so you can decide what's worth hearing.
- Police scanner agent: Monitors police radio around the clock so local newsrooms don't have to. Flags newsworthy events in real time and transcribes every call.
- Roganbot: Watches every episode of the Joe Rogan Experience and pulls out the key moments, quotes, and narratives, making the world's biggest podcast searchable.
- Audience modeling: Virtual focus groups, built from real interview data. Test ideas, messages, or products against a realistic model of your actual audience.
Training & workshops
We teach teams to work with AI rather than just talk about it. Our workshops, hackathons, and coaching leave participants with tools and skills they can use right away.
- AI kickstart: A half-day workshop to get your team up to speed with AI. Covers fundamentals, live demos, and hands-on tools.
- Hackathons: One-day sprints where your team builds a working AI prototype from scratch. Show up with a problem, leave with something you can use.
- Deep training: Multi-month programs that go beyond the basics, including the fjum AI Media Academy and WAN-IFRA NextGen AI Leaders Programme.
- Coaching: Ongoing support for teams and individual builders, with regular check-ins from first idea through to launch.
Strategy & leadership
The AI landscape changes every week. We help leadership teams cut through the noise and make smart decisions about what matters now and what to ignore.
- Board roles: Board service focused on the forces reshaping media: AI, new business models, and changing creator-audience relationships.
- Executive sessions: Focused engagements to separate hype from reality and map out an AI plan, ending in concrete next steps.
- Keynotes: The view from San Francisco. Frontier AI development grounded in real-world experience building and shipping AI products.
- AI frameworks: Guidelines and implementation frameworks for responsible use of AI, offering clear, practical policies your team can follow.
Who we work with
Who we are
Verso was founded by Patrick Swanson and Kaveh Waddell as JSK fellows at Stanford University. We're journalists who understand AI, not a tech startup trying to understand media.
Patrick has a decade of leadership experience in media and tech. He led the social media team at Austria's largest newsroom, reaching 2.4 million daily across TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook.
Kaveh is an investigative data journalist who led technology investigations at Consumer Reports, launched the AI beat at Axios, and covered surveillance for The Atlantic.
Let's talk
Every project starts with a conversation.
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