TechNation’s Stack

We use tools to assist with content creation, editorial support, automation, research, and experimentation. We don’t hide the fact that we use artificial intelligence (AI).

In fact, we said it out loud, and on the record. Because if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it properly. We even have a shiny AI policy.

This, our TechNation Stack, is for the builders: the students, creators, journalists, developers, and disruptors who are genuinely curious about using AI responsibly, not as a shortcut but as a skill.

Our stack, just like our AI policy, will change. The internet changes. The world changes. Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn’t deserve the microphone.

You won’t find every single prompt or toolchain here like it’s a wiki, because while we believe in transparency, we don’t believe in spoonfeeding someone who only wants to Ctrl+C without putting in the work. We believe in earned knowledge.

That said, we might respond if you ask nicely.

The Tech Nation News Stack

Here’s a high-level breakdown of the tools we use: the ones that help us think, write, build, and break things on purpose.

Tools that help us think, brainstorm, ideate

These are our creative assist tools. We use them to brainstorm (and brain dump), to structure, write, rephrase, test headlines, and bounce ideas off digital walls.

We don’t treat chatbots like unpaid interns. We treat it like our weirdest, smartest, most chaotic co-worker. The one with no filter. (Her name’s Kayde, by the way.)

It is not here (and should never be used) to replace journalists. It just supplements our existing superpowers.

AI Chatbots we use:

• ChatGPT (OpenAI)
• Claude (Anthropic)
• DeepSeek & Gemini (as needed)

Beyond just chatting with AI, we’re also experimenting and building with it.

At the top of our list is Watsonx, IBM’s enterprise-grade AI and data platform for working with foundation models and structured data.

It gives us the scaffolding to build something custom. We’re not saying what we’re building… Yet… But stay tuned.

🔍 Tools that help us fact-check

AI hallucinations are real. It can misquote, fabricate quotes altogether, and occasionally mishandle figures or percentages.

Our approach is informed by industry best practices and tools developed by leading organisations. Every AI-assisted piece still passes through a human editor.

These tools help us catch hallucinations and double-check claims.

Verification and research support:

• Full Fact’s Automated Tools: UK-based charity Full Fact developed AI tools to detect false claims and monitor the repetition of misinformation across media platforms.
• Reuters Verification & Fact-Checking Services: Reuters’ global monitoring identifies and debunks misinformation through geolocation, metadata analysis, and open-source intelligence techniques. ​
• Tagore AI by Factly: Designed to analyse complex datasets and preemptively identify likely false narratives.
• Chequeabot (transcript scanning)
• Google Fact Check Explorer
• AI-aware search tools like Perplexity & Elicit

By integrating these tools into our workflow, we aim to uphold the highest standards of accuracy and integrity in our reporting.​

Tools to visualise, design, and dazzle

We use AI to support our visual storytelling, from social assets and infographics to experimental video and voice.

Some of these tools are core to our process. Some others we’re only just starting to break in (read: lovingly abuse them until they bend to our will).

Visual and creative tools we use (or are currently stress-testing):

• Canva Magic Tools: for branded visuals, social layouts.
• HeyGen: for video avatars and multilingual lip-sync. (Yes, it’s creepy; yes, we love it)
• Blaze AI: just started playing with it for auto-generated social content.
• Unsplash, Openverse: occasionally used as fallback media sources
• And nearly the entire damn Adobe Creative Suite, but especially:
  • Premiere Pro for video editing and post-production chaos
  • Photoshop for more complex visuals and infographics
  • Audition for all our podcasting and audio needs
  • Illustrator for icons and the occasional fight with bezier curves
  • After Effects for motion graphics and “please render faster” prayers

🎙️ Tools that help us listen

We don’t manually transcribe everything. It’s 2025 after all and we love our sleep. These tools speed things up, improve accessibility, and help with content planning.

Speech-to-text and meeting summaries:

• Fireflies.ai and Read.ai for meetings
• Slack (yes, it has the features)
• Loom (with transcripts)
• Whisper / Otter.ai
• AudioNotes AI

Used for interviews, brainstorming sessions, podcast editing, and whatever else we’ve decided to record at midnight.

Preparing for interviews and events

Cheryl swears by a hybrid process that combines generative AI, curated research prompts, and post-event transcription tools to shape interviews, coverage, and content strategy.

• ChatGPT + Perplexity help us test angles, frame questions, and prep for interviews or on-air panels
• NotebookLM (Google Labs) lets us simulate dialogue between sources
• Otter.ai and Slack’s transcription tools keep post-event audio clean and searchable
• From there, we write, quote, remix, and repackage content across articles, visual assets, and social drops

Why just prep content when we can build entire systems that think with us.

Tools that keep it moving

These tools help us with workflow and automation. It’s an area we’re still finding our feet in.

We’re learning, breaking things, fixing them, and slowly building the kind of backend that actually supports the chaos we create on the front end.

It’s not perfect. But it’s moving. And that counts.

These tools don’t always rely on generative AI, though some use discriminative AI in the traditional sense. But they’re the connective tissue between ideas and execution.

CMS, automation and publishing:

• WordPress
• Elementor Pro
• AIOSEO for our SEO
• Zapier (for automating the boring bits)

These tools help us move fast, publish clean, and keep our focus on the parts of journalism that still make our hearts beat faster.

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📬 Got questions?

If you’re serious (and we mean serious) about learning, experimenting, and understanding the tech behind what we do, reach out and:

• Tell us who you are.
• What you’re trying to build.
• Why you care.

We’re putting together training materials, resources, and eventually, real-time mentorships and virtual sessions.

Fill in the form. We’ll find you when it’s time.

For anything else, slide into Daniel’s inbox: daniel@technation.news

(And no, we won’t sell your data. That would be gross. It would go against our privacy policy.)

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🧩 What’s next: Visualising the stack (coming soon)

We’re working on a flow-based version of this stack to show exactly how each tool fits into our editorial workflow.

It’ll be interactive, non-linear, and slightly chaotic. Just like the rest of this place.

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Changelog (we’re iterating live)

Click to see what’s changed

29 April 2025: Added Audio Notes AI. We’re now using the premium version.
27 April 2025: New visual stack section announced.
25 April 2025: Policy updated to address editorial integrity concerns.