Arbor founder Cheney Cheng
Arbor, based in the UK, is an AI-powered news aggregation and summary platform. It generates personalised insights for any topic users care about and saves users from searching and reading hundreds of profession-specific news daily. The app utilises its innovative AI hallucination tool to identify and eliminate inaccuracies and provide users with credible information they can put their trust in.
Launched in March 2024, Arbor has partnered with major publishing houses like The New York Times and Hong Kong Economic Journal, allowing users to have access to paywall content from top-tier publishers. The app claims to have gained 140,000 users so far. The company also plans to expand its business into Southeast Asia and India.
In this interview, Arbor founder Cheney Cheng discusses Arbor, its Newspresso tool, partnerships, and the firm’s Southeast Asia expansion.
Edited excerpts:
How does your AI hallucination tool work?
The AI hallucination tool is designed to ensure AI doesn’t make up fake content due to the lack of accurate and relevant information. To prevent such hallucinations, the tool employs AI to compare generated answers with their original sources. This additional layer of verification ensures the accuracy and reliability of the information provided, effectively guarding against hallucinations.
What is Newspresso, and how is Arbor leveraging personalisation to curate news stories on users’ interests? How does Arbor ensure the accuracy and credibility of the news it curates?
Newspresso is the paid newsletter feature of Arbor. It leverages advanced AI technology to personalise news delivery based on users’ interests and roles.
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An example of how this works is when the same news about Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) can yield vastly different results when viewed from a consumer’s perspective versus an investor’s perspective.
Can you explain the technology behind Arbor’s AI model and how it continually refines the news curation process?
Based on a core large language model, Arbor has developed a proprietary set of deep learning models and algorithms to better control the relevancy and quality of the output.
Technical challenges faced by a generic large language model (LLM) include accurate news retrieval, cross-lingual content aggregation, and hallucination, among others.
What does the partnership with The New York Times and Hong Kong Economic Journal mean for Arbor, and what value does it provide for users? Are there any other notable partnerships or collaborations in the pipeline that you can share?
The partnership between Arbor, The New York Times and Hong Kong Economic Journal enhances our mission to deliver high-quality journalism globally.
This collaboration offers Arbor users attractive bundled subscription packages, providing unique perspectives and insightful analyses from reputable sources.
Looking ahead, Arbor plans to continue forming strategic alliances with other high-quality publishers, further expanding its comprehensive news coverage and solidifying its position as a leader in AI-curated news.
What motivated Arbor to expand into Southeast Asian and India? What strategies will Arbor implement to adapt to the unique media landscapes of these countries? How do you plan to compete with existing news curation platforms in the region?
Arbor’s expansion into Southeast Asian markets, such as Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia, in addition to India, is motivated by the region’s rapid digital adoption and growing demand for reliable news.
To adapt to these unique media landscapes, Arbor will localise content through partnerships with reputable local publishers and leverage advanced AI models to tailor news feeds to user preferences.
What challenges do you anticipate in entering these new markets, and how do you plan to address them? How do you plan to tailor Arbor’s offerings to meet the specific needs and preferences of users in Southeast Asia?
Entering new markets presents challenges such as cultural differences, market competition, and building trust. Arbor aims to address these by adapting its content sources to resonate with diverse cultures, ensuring the content is culturally relevant.
To remain competitive amongst established local news platforms, Arbor will emphasise its unique AI-driven personalisation and high-quality insights.
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Building trust is crucial, so Arbor will focus on transparent practices and ensuring the accuracy and credibility of its content. This approach aims to establish Arbor as a trusted and valuable news resource in any new market.
Arbor claims to have achieved growth of 100,000+ users in three months of its launch. What do you attribute this rapid growth to? What are Arbor’s plans for growth in Southeast Asia in the near future?
Arbor’s rapid growth to over 100,000 users in three months is due to its advanced AI technology that delivers highly personalised news, saving users time and providing actionable insights. Moving forward, strategic partnerships with reputable publishers will also boost its credibility.
Arbor plans to grow in Southeast Asia by focusing on cultural adaptability, ensuring content resonates with local audiences, and leveraging partnerships to establish trust.
How do you envision Arbor evolving over the next five years? Are there any plans to introduce Arbor in other regions or countries after Southeast Asia?
We envision the rise of Generative Media as the fourth wave of media transformation and we’re proud to be one of the earliest pioneers in the space.
Over the next five years, Arbor envisions becoming a global leader as a personalised information provider by continually enhancing its AI capabilities and expanding its partnerships with international and local publishers. The platform aims to integrate features like interactive news formats, multilingual support, and deeper user insights to improve the user experience.
After establishing a strong presence in Southeast Asia, Arbor plans to expand into regions like Latin America and Africa, adapting content to meet local needs, and solidifying its position as the go-to platform for personalised news worldwide.
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Image Credit: Arbor.
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