How to write a brief for an AI news agent, with examples

An AI news agent is only as good as the description it works from. In Relay that description is called the brief, and it does two jobs: it is turned into the searches the agent runs, and it is the lens every story is judged through. A brief that does only one of those jobs gives you either the wrong stories or too many of them.

A weak brief and a strong one

Here is a brief that will disappoint:

"Keep me updated on telecom news."

It names nothing to search for and gives no way to tell an important story from a press release. Compare:

"I advise UK mobile operators on regulation. Watch Ofcom consultations and decisions, spectrum auctions, and Competition and Markets Authority cases involving BT, Vodafone, Three and Virgin Media O2. A development is a published decision, a new consultation, a court ruling or a merger filing. Skip handset launches, tariff offers and opinion pieces."

Same subject, but now the agent knows where to look, what counts, and what to throw away.

Five rules

• Name specific things. Organisations, regulators, products, places, laws. These become the searches.
• Say why you care, in one sentence. What you work on tells the agent which angle of a story matters to you.
• Say what counts as a development. A decision, a filing, a launch, a price change. This is what separates news from commentary.
• Say what to leave out. Whole categories you never want are worth naming outright.
• One agent, one subject. Two focused agents beat one that covers everything.

Things not to ask for

Do not ask for a number of stories, for "top stories", or for daily volume. A quiet day should produce a short briefing. Asking for ten items every day is asking for filler.

Check before you wait

Relay has two helpers beside the brief. Rephrase proposes a version the agent reads better and changes nothing until you accept it. Check this description shows the searches your brief would produce in a couple of seconds, so you can see a gap before the first run.

Improve it as you read

A brief is never finished on the first try. Read a week of briefings and notice what is missing and what should not be there, then edit the brief. Saving the text gathers again straight away, so you see the effect within minutes. If you are replacing keyword alerts, this article covers how to carry them over.