(a) What is Gooder News?
Gooder News is a prosocial, radically positive, infinitely remixable news app that turns every story into something you’ll actually want to read. Using AI, it curates real news from trusted sources, filtering each story through playful, uplifting, thought-provoking, engaging, and/or creative lenses – so instead of doomscrolling, you can joyscroll. It’s news that’s actually good – for your brain, and for the world.
(b) Why is Gooder News so cool?
Well, reading news directly on news sites is generally an awful experience. Many of these sites are polarizing, ad-filled, and hard to navigate. Stories can be repetitive and/or boring. It can also be hard to know what to do with the information we read, besides walking away feeling negative and disempowered about the state of the world. Gooder aims to change all of that.
- Infinite remixing: every headline is rewritten in dozens of styles: uplifting, humorous, poetic, surprising, empathic, curiosity-provoking, action-oriented. You can choose to challenge your own biases, read news framed as a bedtime story, or as if narrated by Morgan Freeman. With so many fresh takes, you can choose your own adventure.
- Antidote to doomscrolling: No more bottomless negativity, rage-bait, or algorithmic anxiety. Gooder News is designed to actually improve your day and mental health. You can stay informed while feeling good.
- Interactive & participatory: Anyone can suggest new remix channels or (someday) create their own, giving rise to collective news feeds that reflect the world as we want to see it.
(c) Why does it have so much potential for social good?
- Supports mental health: In a media landscape that profits from anxiety, Gooder News offers a healthier, life-affirming alternative.
- Affirms hope over anxiety: By surfacing solutions – not just problems – Gooder News helps people believe that change is possible.
- Reduces fatigue, apathy, and polarization: When people feel empowered and uplifted, they’re more likely to act, connect, and care.
- Increases civic engagement: Designed to build common ground and inspire collection action rather than outrage and divisiveness.
- Fuels empathy and curiosity: By offering multiple takes on stories, readers are encouraged to think critically, see nuance, and play with ideas – skills at the core of a healthy democracy.
(d) Future possibilities
- Converse with the news story in the voice of your choice
- Chat with the personas about anything
- Improved filtering + curation controls
- Custom + crowd sourced channels
- Custom news sources
- Generate images (for non-IP sensitive channels)
- Text to speech narration (for non-IP sensitive channels)
- Native iOS + Android apps
- Integration with Can’tMake.It
In short:
Gooder News is reimagining what news can be – making it not just bearable, but actually good for you and the world.