Saga Digital AI has emerged as a distinctive entrant in Pakistan’s digital media landscape, positioning itself as the country’s first newsroom built around artificial intelligence. Founded by veteran journalist Amar Guriro, the platform blends human reporting with AI-driven production tools to publish news and explainer content across digital channels. Guriro established the outlet after stepping away from print journalism following a 26-year career, citing growing constraints on editorial independence and limited space for meaningful journalism as key reasons for launching an independent venture. Saga Digital AI was set up using personal investment and is structured as a compact operation designed to maximise output through technology rather than large-scale staffing.
The newsroom operates with a core team of five people handling editorial oversight, social media management, AI generation, and video editing. Despite its small in-house staff, Saga Digital AI collaborates with around 60 reporters and freelancers based in seven countries, including Pakistan, Germany, and the United States. Content production is divided between human and machine input, with an estimated 40 percent of output assisted by AI and the remaining majority produced by human journalists. The organisation relies on a network of contributors to source stories, while AI tools are used to enhance efficiency in scripting, visual presentation, and video production. In total, the team uses more than 50 different software programs, each responsible for specific aspects of content creation, particularly for video explainers and social media distribution.
A notable feature of Saga Digital AI’s approach is the use of AI-generated presenters. These include digital characters that read scripted content over real footage, as well as AI personas created in the likeness of real individuals who have given explicit consent. Among them is a character modelled after Soojal, a person with disabilities who faces challenges with speech, as well as a digital likeness of writer and social activist Zulfiqar Qadri. The outlet also publishes content that is entirely human-generated, maintaining a mix of formats depending on the nature of the story. The decision to rely on AI presenters is closely tied to cost considerations and operational scale, as producing video content with virtual presenters is significantly more economical than hiring on-camera talent, particularly for a small newsroom with limited resources.
The use of artificial intelligence in news production has placed Saga Digital AI at the centre of broader debates around trust, credibility, and ethics in journalism. Supporters of human-led reporting argue that empathy, contextual understanding, and nuanced storytelling remain difficult for AI systems to replicate fully, especially when covering complex social or political issues. At the same time, proponents of AI-assisted journalism point to consistency, round-the-clock availability, and reduced production bias as practical advantages. Digital rights advocates have also highlighted the importance of limiting AI use to supportive tasks such as transcription or data handling, stressing the need for strong human oversight to maintain quality and accountability. Concerns around misinformation and factual errors generated by AI systems have further underscored the risks involved, particularly during periods of conflict or fast-moving events. Saga Digital AI maintains that its AI presenters strictly follow pre-written scripts created and reviewed by humans, and that the platform does not attempt to disguise machine-generated content as purely human work. As Pakistan’s media industry continues to experiment with new technologies, Saga Digital AI represents a case study in how artificial intelligence is beginning to reshape newsroom workflows while raising critical questions about transparency, reliability, and the future role of journalists.
Follow the SPIN IDG WhatsApp Channel for updates across the Smart Pakistan Insights Network covering all of Pakistan’s technology ecosystem.
