With the proliferation of short-form content, many readers in their 20s and 30s increasingly avoid traditional long-form news. Recognizing this shift, JoongAng Ilbo set out to reach “light users” who consume less news and tend to prefer shorter, more varied formats. Building on a long-standing collaboration with Google, JoongAng Ilbo implemented Gemini Pro to develop ‘1min’, an innovative standalone AI-driven news-summary service.

‘1min’ represented an ambitious and unprecedented step toward moving JoongAng Ilbo from “news you read” to “news you pick, skim, and swipe.” The team tested more than six thematic formats to find the right balance of light yet immersive content using a GenAI language model. After extensive testing and internal review, JoongAng Ilbo defined three core summary features for each article: ‘Key Points’, ‘Easy Explanation’, and ‘Summary in English’.

The primary obstacle was delivering this experience at scale without compromising journalistic integrity. The project reached a breakthrough during the transition to Gemini 2.5 Pro. By refining their prompt architecture to leverage the model’s advanced reasoning, the team carefully designed prompts so that the model worked only with facts explicitly stated in the original article. Enabling them to successfully automate complex quality-validation tasks, ensuring that high-speed AI summaries consistently met JoongAng Ilbo’s editorial requirements.

Furthermore, JoongAng Ilbo continuously updated '1min' to ensure readers to feel a seamless experience consistent with its existing platform. This pioneering initiative established JoongAng Ilbo as the first Korean news outlet to deploy a GenAI-based summarization service across the entire user journey. By successfully navigating a complex set of challenges, the team translated their AI strategy into tangible results that validated the service’s performance.

By conducting user data analysis, JoongAng Ilbo set out to validate the hypothesis that concise, AI-powered formats encourage a pattern of "light entry, deep consumption," where casual visitors transition into loyal, heavy-user segments. The results validated this assumption. The ‘1min’ service recorded a repeat-use rate of 78%, more than double that of standard articles. Readers viewed an average of 5.63 articles per visit, more than four times the usual figure. These quantitative results show that users clearly recognized the convenience and value of summary-based news through the immersive experience ‘1min’ offers.

‘1min’ also received strong reviews from users for its’ use of AI. In satisfaction feedback on the summary features based on Gemini 2.5 Pro, 98%of responses were positive, demonstrating the high quality of the service. Among the three main features, ‘Easy Explanation’ scored highest, as it helps readers grasp the context and background of each story in plain language. The concept of “a friendly senior explaining things to a university student” resonated strongly with users. The response from the newsroom has also been positive. Reporters noted that ‘1min’’s explanatory summaries help communicate their intended messages more effectively.

‘1min‘s UI/UX designed for rapid content exploration also heightened user satisfaction. To minimize potential loading latency, the team carried out extensive preparation work, developing and implementing prompts in advance for a year’s worth of JoongAng Ilbo articles so that ‘1min’ content could be surfaced instantly and comprehensively on a single page. They also built a dynamic URL system to ensure that shared articles direct readers to the exact intended view, helping deliver a faster and more reliable experience.

These achievements are the result of JoongAng Ilbo’s consistent efforts to lead innovation in the AI era. As media companies across the industry experiment with AI, JoongAng Ilbo has continued to lead with several firsts: in 2024, it introduced the country’s first cloud-based LLM search service, and with ‘1min’ it has differentiated itself in summary-driven news through the Gemini-powered ‘Easy Explanation’ feature.

Looking ahead, JoongAng Ilbo plans to widen the reach of ‘1min’ and further grow its recurring-user base. New features are under development, including an article-outline function powered and thumbnail support to enhance navigation and immersion.

JoongAng Ilbo will continue to refine ‘1min’ so that younger readers gain more value from the news. The goal is to set a new standard for journalism in the AI era while continuously improving service quality by incorporating user feedback and areas for enhancement.