This page explains how Sonderbriefing uses artificial intelligence and automated tools in its journalism. It is designed to give you a clear, honest picture of what role these technologies play in our newsroom, what safeguards exist, and what we will never allow them to do. If you have any questions, you can contact our editorial team at any time.
How does Sonderbriefing use AI and automation in its journalism?
Sonderbriefing permits the use of AI-assisted tools strictly to support human editorial work, never to replace it. These tools may assist with research, drafting, editing, formatting, translation, metadata generation, headline suggestions, summarisation, and transcription of audio or video. Every piece of content published on this site is subject to full human oversight before it appears.
The editorial team at Sonderbriefing Media Ltd. treats these tools as productivity aids, not as authors or decision-makers. An editor may use an AI tool to generate a preliminary draft from interview notes, but that draft must be rewritten, fact-checked, and approved by a named human editor before publication. Similarly, translation tools may help produce versions of articles for our international audience, but a human editor fluent in the relevant languages reviews every translation for accuracy and nuance.
What is the human guarantee?
Every single article you read on Sonderbriefing has been drafted by a named writer, reviewed by an editor, and fact-checked before publication. This is a non-negotiable part of our editorial workflow. AI-assisted tools can support these stages, but they never make the final call. The human guarantee means that a real person—either Chefredaktör Tim Zimmermann or another named editor—takes responsibility for every item we publish.
Sonderbriefing’s editorial mission is to provide trustworthy Swedish journalism that helps readers understand complex issues without spin or oversimplification. That standard can only be met by human judgement. Our readers deserve to know that a professional journalist has weighed the evidence, considered context, and applied editorial discretion to every piece of content. AI tools may help us work more efficiently, but they cannot exercise judgement or take responsibility.
What is strictly prohibited?
Sonderbriefing imposes a strict set of prohibitions on AI and automation. Tools must never fabricate quotes, sources, interviews, bylines, author experience, or expert profiles. They must not be used to generate content that misleads about the origin of information or the credentials of a journalist. Any use of AI that would create the impression that a machine, rather than a person, is the author of a news article is forbidden.
Additionally, AI tools may not be used to generate or suggest editorial conclusions, or to replace the fact-checking process overseen by Laura Arnold, our fact-checking editor. No automated system may make decisions about what constitutes a correction, nor may it issue a correction or retraction without direct human approval. All sponsored or commercial content, affiliate links, and advertising placements are handled by human staff outside the editorial chain of command, and no AI tool may determine the placement or tone of that material. You can read more about this in our advertising and affiliate disclosure.
How this works in practice
Consider a concrete example: a reporter covering a new Swedish government regulation might use an AI transcription tool to turn a recorded interview with a politician into searchable text. That transcript is then used by the reporter to draft an article, which is checked for accuracy against the original recording. The draft is reviewed by an editor and then sent to the fact-checking team, who verify any numerical data or direct quotations. Only after all three stages are complete does the story get published. In this workflow, AI saves time on transcription and initial drafting, but every substantive claim still passes through human judgement.
Sonderbriefing’s fact-checking policy and editorial policy govern this end-to-end process. The same human review chain applies to translated headlines, AI-generated summaries for newsletters, and any automated metadata. Nothing is automated beyond that first supportive role.
Who owns and operates Sonderbriefing?
Sonderbriefing is owned and operated by Sonderbriefi Media Ltd., a private company registered in Gibraltar (company number C 92009, Malta Business Registry). Our registered office is at Office 9, Business Centre, Valletta, 0000. The publication was founded in 2024 and is an independent Swedish digital news publisher. Our editorial line is independent of any political or commercial interest, and our commercial relationships never determine editorial conclusions. More information is available on our ownership and funding page.
In short
AI tools at Sonderbriefing are strictly supportive: they help with research, drafting, and formatting, but every published word is reviewed, approved, and owned by a human editor. You can trust that our journalism is the product of professional human judgement, not automated outputs, and that the prohibitions we have in place are designed to protect accuracy, honesty, and accountability.