Curio Secures Funding for Rio: The AI-Powered News Anchor App

AI is gradually making its way into the newsroom, with media outlets like Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Gizmodo, VentureBeat, and CNET experimenting with articles created by artificial intelligence. While many traditional journalists express concern over this trend, several startups believe AI can enhance the news experience for consumers. One such innovation is Rio, an "AI news anchor" designed to help readers engage with topics that interest them from reputable sources.

Rio was introduced last month at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin by the creators of Curio, an AI-driven audio journalism startup. It has attracted investment from Khosla Ventures and TED's head, Chris Anderson, who also supported Curio. (The startup indicated that its funding round has not yet closed, so the amount raised remains undisclosed.)

Originally a feature within Curio's platform, Rio gathers headlines from trusted publications such as Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and The Washington Post. It then curates this content into a daily news briefing that users can read or listen to, ensuring a comprehensive overview of current affairs.

One key feature of Rio is its ability to prevent users from falling into an echo chamber, providing news that broadens their understanding of various topics.

In tests, Rio presented a daily briefing in a Story-like format, complete with graphics and clickable links that allowed users to hear full articles narrated by an AI voice, not just summaries. Users navigate through headlines similarly to swiping through Stories on platforms like Instagram.

Curio assures users that Rio’s AI won't fabricate information and will only refer to content from its trusted publishing partners. Additionally, it won't train its large language model (LLM) on publisher material without explicit consent.

Beyond the daily briefing, Rio features an AI chatbot interface where users can inquire about other topics. Suggested topics—such as “TikTok ban” or “Ukraine War”—are displayed as buttons above the text input box. While the AI occasionally responded slowly, it overall met expectations. Moreover, Rio offers to create audio episodes based on users’ queries for more in-depth learning.

Co-founder Govind Balakrishnan mentioned that since launching Rio last May within Curio, users have asked over 20,000 questions, leading the company to develop it into a standalone app.

"AI has us questioning what's true and what's not. While you can search AI sites for quick answers, relying on them may be a gamble," said co-founder Srikant Chakravarti in a statement during Rio's launch at SXSW. "Reliable information is scarce, and only a fortunate few access fact-checked content. Rio helps you navigate the news, transforming daily headlines from trustworthy sources into insightful knowledge."

While it remains uncertain if Rio will have enough appeal to thrive independently, its user-friendly interface could eventually be integrated into larger news aggregators like Google News or Apple News, or even within individual publishers’ websites. Meanwhile, Curio will maintain its focus on audio news.

Rio isn't the only startup leveraging AI to elevate the news consumption experience. Former Twitter engineers are working on Particle, an AI-powered news reader with $4.4 million in backing. Another AI-driven news app, Bulletin, seeks to combat clickbait while providing news summaries. Artifact also utilized AI before being acquired by Yahoo.

Currently, Rio is in early access, meaning users need an invitation to join, but you can also join a waitlist at rionews.ai. The company plans to launch publicly later this summer. (As an incentive for reading this far, five of you can use my invite link to gain entry.)