Generates audio content in minutes with Chirp 3: HD voices
Audio editorials enter Il Foglio’s top three most popular podcasts
Saves money on expensive illustrations by automating with Imagen
Il Foglio uses Chirp 3: HD voices to transform daily editorials into podcasts, allowing readers to consume their news on the go.
Il Foglio uses Chirp 3: HD voices to transform daily editorials into podcasts, allowing readers to consume their news on the go.
Redefining the possible with powerful new AI technology
As digital technology changes how people consume media, newspapers are evolving to find new ways to fit into people's digital lives. Embracing this shift is the influential Italian newspaper Il Foglio. Known as much for its spirit of innovation as for its in-depth commentary, the newspaper sees the digital transformation as an opportunity to bring its rich journalistic heritage into the new millennium. It even recently published a special edition generated entirely by AI to spark a national debate on the role the technology has to play in the media.
Il Foglio’s latest innovation is to give its readers more choice around how they consume their content. With a growing number of readers wanting to get their news and analysis on the go, Il Foglio decided to transform its daily editorials into high-quality audio articles. However, the newspaper couldn't afford to pull journalists away from investigative work to sit in front of a microphone for hours every day. It needed a solution that offered human broadcast quality while keeping its team free to meet the demands of a busy newsroom.
True to its innovative approach to technology, Il Foglio turned to AI. After testing various audio models, the editorial team found that Chirp 3: HD voices from Google Cloud offered the most natural Italian intonation.
We compared a range of solutions, and Chirp 3: HD Voices stood out for the quality of its voices. It was the natural-sounding spoken language that persuaded us to choose Google Cloud.
Enrico Cicchetti
Journalist, Il Foglio
To get the project up and running, Il Foglio benefited from the strategic guidance of Google Cloud partner Huware. Beyond the technical implementation of Chirp 3: HD voices, Huware acted as a transformation partner, defining the roadmap to seamlessly embed Generative AI within the newspaper's unique 'artisanal' editorial workflow.
“At Il Foglio, we are fascinated by AI, but we needed a partner to help us understand what we could achieve,” explains Il Foglio journalist Enrico Cicchetti. “Google Cloud offers so many possibilities and Huware helped guide us through them, bringing this project to life and helping us visualize all we could achieve in the future.”
Generating realistic audio content in minutes with Chirp 3: HD voices
Huware worked closely with the Il Foglio team to build the secure technical foundation it needed to automate its audio content creation. This involved configuring security protocols in Google Cloud to keep the process safe and compliant, while establishing the necessary identity management to ensure only permitted journalists could access the AI tools. By handling the backend architecture, Huware enabled the Il Foglio editorial team to focus entirely on content.
The result is a streamlined process that turns text into professional audio in minutes — a process that would have taken hours per article if performed manually. Every day, the team selects four editorials to transform into audio versions with Chirp 3: HD voices. By selecting the tone of voice to suit the content, they can curate the most impactful and relevant listening experience for the reader.
“Chirp 3: HD voices was so simple, intuitive, and easy to use, we learned how to use it in just one day,” says Cicchetti. “We can choose the language and voice to suit the subject and then quickly generate powerful content without increasing our workload.”
Chirp 3: HD voices was so simple, intuitive, and easy to use, we learned how to use it in just one day. We can choose the language and voice to suit the subject and then quickly generate powerful content without increasing our workload.
Enrico Cicchetti
Journalist,Il Foglio
Francesco Miressi, head of cloud revenue and alliance manager at Huware believes it’s this ability to generate realistic audio that’s key to the impact of Chirp 3: HD voices. “We have no doubt that Chirp 3: HD voices is industry-leading technology for text-to-speech translation right now," he says.
Despite launching in August — typically a quiet month for media consumption in Italy — the audio editorials quickly became Il Foglio’s third most-listened-to podcast. Importantly, by automating the production, Il Foglio has successfully expanded its reach to a mobile audience without having to invest in expensive studios, all while keeping its journalists free to focus on news reporting and commentary.
The Il Foglio team has also begun experimenting with Google Cloud AI solutions for visual storytelling. With Imagen, they’re creating stylized illustrations for articles where traditional photography isn’t required. This allows the team to maintain a high visual standard without the delays and costs associated with commissioning custom illustrations for every piece.
Helping readers find trusted content faster with Vertex AI Search and Gemini
Il Foglio now plans to expand its use of Google Cloud AI to make it even easier for readers to consume content by simplifying the process of finding articles on its website. The newspaper has a large archive dating back to 1996, which currently lacks the metadata to enable relevant searches. The editorial team already spends roughly an hour a day manually tagging articles, so manually tagging the existing archive would be unworkable.
Instead, the team is exploring Vertex AI Search and Gemini to automate the tagging process. The vision is to unlock the archive, allowing readers to search for content using natural language rather than relying on exact keyword matches. This would not only save the editorial team hours of manual data entry every week, but also give new life to decades of high-quality articles.
For Il Foglio, using Google Cloud to find new ways to bring its influential journalism to readers is helping it to remain at the forefront of the changing media landscape. “Innovating with Google Cloud is eliminating low-value tasks and giving us more time for researching and writing stories,” says Cicchetti. “It’s allowed us to create something entirely new. Our readers like it, our colleagues like it, and it's helping us redefine our output for the digital age.”
Innovating with Google Cloud is eliminating low-value tasks and giving us more time for researching and writing stories. It’s allowed us to create something entirely new. Our readers like it, our colleagues like it, and it's helping us redefine our output for the digital age.
Enrico Cicchetti
Journalist, Il Foglio
Il Foglio is an influential Italian daily newspaper bringing in-depth commentary and opinion to readers across the digital landscape. Founded in 1996, by Giuliano Ferrara, it has been directed by Claudio Cerasa since 2015.
Industry: Media and Entertainment
Location: Italy
Products: Google Cloud, Chirp 3: HD voices, Gemini, Imagen, Vertex AI Search
About Google Cloud partner — Huware
Huware is a Google Cloud partner with 20 years of cloud consulting experience, leading the way in digital transformation for businesses.
