In April 2026, Lena Leibetseder, Head of Digital Publishing at Russmedia, presented at the WAN-IFRA Frankfurt AI Forum on the Austrian media company’s two-year effort to integrate artificial intelligence across its operations.
Russmedia, based in Vorarlberg, was the first newspaper group in the world to adopt four-colour printing in 1993 and went online in 1995. In 2010, the company issued iPhone 4 devices to all employees to encourage mobile engagement.
The company partnered with OpenAI in 2023 and rolled out ChatGPT organisation-wide, covering editorial, sales, marketing, HR and printing house staff. By 2025, its flagship portal VOL.AT recorded 14.5 million monthly visits and 2.4 million unique readers, with 76% of traffic coming from mobile devices.
After two years of implementation, Russmedia reported an AI adoption rate of approximately 80% across its full workforce, including employees who do not use computers in their daily roles.
Leibetseder stated that 2026 marks a shift from AI experimentation to integration, arguing that competitive advantage lies not in isolated AI projects but in aligning product, organisation and workflows into a coherent system.
To operationalise this, Russmedia established two dedicated AI teams in September 2024 with distinct mandates. The Russmedia Data Team, a cross-functional unit of five — developer, automation specialist, video editor, project manager and channel manager — focuses on turning ideas into working prototypes quickly, testing them in real workflows, and handing them over to relevant teams for further implementation.
The VOL.AT AI Studio, comprising Leibetseder, a developer and a data specialist, was created to address the physical separation between the Data Team and the newsroom. Located in the centre of the newsroom, the studio’s desk is surrounded by journalists to enable daily feedback and co-creation as part of routine work.
Russmedia’s AI tools prioritise practical impact over theoretical innovation. The Paper Warehouse Monitor automates the processing of delivery notes from paper suppliers, which previously arrived as PDFs, Excel files or messy Word documents. An AI agent now extracts key information and creates stock system entries automatically, with inventory updates triggered by barcode scans when paper enters and exits the press.
The Press Release Workflow automates a task performed dozens of times daily by editors. Incoming press releases are forwarded to a dedicated email address, triggering a pipeline built on Pipedream and Claude that shortens the text to fit the 2,200-character limit for Vorarlberger Nachrichten, assigns a title and generates a draft in WordPress.
The Russmedia Editorial Bot, currently in early development within Microsoft Teams, connects to the editorial planning tool to retrieve information such as weekend article schedules on request. Leibetseder acknowledged its limited current utility but emphasized the goal of consolidating functions into a single tool already embedded in staff workflows.
Leibetseder shared five principles for sustainable AI adoption, developed from personal failures in implementation. First, proximity and accessibility: technology teams must be embedded in the environments they serve, as demonstrated by the AI Studio’s central newsroom location enabling spontaneous feedback.
Second, stakeholders must be clearly defined and journalists included as contributors, not just end users. Leibetseder advised building tools with journalists, particularly by engaging sceptics until they endorse the tool, turning them into role models for broader adoption.
Third, role modelling and leadership commitment are essential; when editors-in-chief use AI-assisted drafts or headlines, it signals that AI is part of core job functions, not a side experiment.
Fourth, honesty about mistakes and openness to critique build credibility. Leibetseder cited Russmedia’s unsuccessful two-year effort to create a tool that shortens text to an exact character count for print layout, noting that acknowledging failure is more effective than insisting on repeated attempts.
Fifth, organisations should embrace FOMO — fear of missing out — by focusing on a small number of high-impact use cases rather than chasing every new AI feature. Leibetseder warned that too many unclear options create friction, disengagement and the perception of constant change without improvement, stating that clarity comes from commitment to a few well-executed tools.
Leibetseder advised publishers that the most significant factor in AI integration is not building better AI, but ensuring journalists feel supported and confident in using the technology.
