What happens to a journalist's interview after it is uploaded to an AI transcription tool?
That question goes straight to the heart of one of journalism's oldest promises: protect your sources.
In this episode, host Yumi Wilson sits down with Good Tape CEO and co-founder Lasse Finderup and puts to him the questions every journalist should ask any AI transcription company, including his own:
Who owns the data?
Can the company train on it?
Where does the recording go, and does it leave the jurisdiction?
Who can access it?
And how do we protect sources while still using tools that speed up reporting?
Lasse's most practical advice: before you trust any tool with a confidential interview, read its terms of service and search for three words: “train,” “rights,” and “perpetuity.” What you find (or don't) tells you whether your recordings stay yours. Source data, he argues, deserves far more care than ordinary workplace files, because you're handling it on someone else's behalf.
The conversation also explores Good Tape's newsroom roots at Zetland in Copenhagen, where it was built; its EU-based, GDPR-compliant approach to privacy; why Lasse refuses to advertise a tidy accuracy percentage; audit trails that let you trace an AI-generated summary back to the exact moment in the recording; multilingual transcription; and a new feature in beta, working name "artificial memory,” that connects your past interviews to future reporting.
One example Lasse offers: interview a source today, interview them again a year later, and the tool flags that they've contradicted what they told you before. That contradiction is a story in itself.
This episode marks a new chapter for A Journalist's Guide to AI : a new production team, a renewed focus, and the show's first sponsor, Good Tape, a company built by journalists, and one Yumi holds to the same standard she urges you to apply to everyone else.
If you use AI tools for interviews, transcription, research or reporting, this conversation is for you.
Guest: Lasse Finderup, CEO and Co-Founder of Good Tape
Host: Yumi Wilson, Broadcast Journalism Professor, San Francisco State University
Podcast: A Journalist's Guide to AI
Please subscribe for more conversations about how AI is changing journalism, storytelling, trust and the future of media. To learn more, check out: yumiwilson.me or connect with me on LinkedIn!
A note on timing: This episode was recorded in March 2026. During the conversation, we touched on Anthropic's decision to turn down a Pentagon contract over the Pentagon's redlines on surveillance and autonomous weapons, and OpenAI's decision to accept a similar deal. That reporting was accurate at the time, but the situation has continued to evolve since then, including renewed negotiations and additional government AI contracts. For the current state of play, consult up-to-date reporting.
*These show notes were drafted with AI assistance and reviewed, revised and approved by Yumi Wilson.
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