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Rebuilding Gen Z's Trust in News Through AI Transparency
Yi Lai
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Posted Jan 16, 2026
Designed a news app concept 'Pulse' to rebuild Gen Z's trust through AI transparency.
Rebuilding Gen Z's Trust in News Through AI Transparency
Duration: 8-hour design sprint
Deliverables: Mobile app concept, design system, Rive animations
App Name: Pulse
The Challenge
Gen Z has lost trust in traditional media. 73% say they can't distinguish real news from misinformation. Existing AI news apps either overwhelm users with endless feeds (Particle) or reduce complex issues to oversimplified left/right labels (Ground News).
Assignment Brief: Design a news app that rebuilds trust through AI-powered transparency and personalization in 8 hours.
My Approach
Research & Strategy (Hours 1-2)
Analyzed competitors (Particle, Ground News) and identified gaps:
Particle: AI summaries but passive consumption, no inline verification
Ground News: Shows multiple sources but uses reductive political labels
Gap: No one combines participation + sentence-level verification + behavioral learning
Key Insight: Gen Z doesn't want dumbed-down news. They want proof. They'll engage if you show your work.
The Solution: Pulse
A news app that prioritizes process over authority by making AI reasoning, sourcing, and verification visible at every step.
Core Features:
1. Personalization
Gen Z doesnât trust one-size-fits-all news.
Pulse lets users choose how stories are told:
Custom avatar
Tone-of-voice selection
Modular design system templates
Customized Avatar + Tone of Voice selection and design system template
2. Interactive Reading
Stories invite participation instead of passive scrolling:
Prediction prompts (âGuess before we tell youâ)
Opinion polls
Knowledge checks
Each interaction dismisses itself after completion to avoid interrupting reading flow.
It will dismiss itself once answered so it doesn't interfere with the reading
3. Full AI Transparency
Pulse exposes the journalism pipeline:
Source attribution
Verification status
AI reasoning at the sentence level
All articles are sourced from independent outlets to reduce political bias and reinforce credibility.
All articles shown are pulled from independent news outlet to avoid political bias
4. Social sharing
Sharing goes beyond headlines and clickbait:
Highlight and annotate sections of an article
Share as stories or posts with personal commentary
This reframes news sharing as thoughtful contribution, not amplification.
Highlight mode is enabled by tapping on the edit icon on the right bottom of the screen
Motion & Delight
Year in Review animations built in Rive
Motion reinforces reflection, credibility, and progress.
Year in Review animation done in Rive.
Results & Impact
What I delivered in 8 hours:
8 high-fidelity screens
Complete design system
3 Year in Review Style Rive animations
Competitive analysis
Strategic positioning
Why it works: Gen Z trusts process over authority. Showing how news is synthesized, sourced, and verified builds credibility more than any brand name.
Reflection
This sprint proved I can move fast without sacrificing craft. If this is what I can deliver in 8 hours, imagine what we could build together.