Saturno, an Italian magazine, and the experience of a virtual editor between literature, journalism, and the future of publishing
Souad Khalil | Libya
Artificial intelligence is no longer present in the world of writing and publishing merely as a technological tool that helps writers and journalists’ research, draft, and revise texts. It has begun to enter a more sensitive and complex sphere: participation in the editorial process itself. In this context, the distinctive experience of the Italian magazine Saturno Magazine stands out. The magazine has chosen to give one of its artificial intelligence systems an explicit presence within its editorial structure and to treat it as a collaborator with a name, an identity, and clearly defined functions.
The Italian magazine presents the experience of Yo-shin Lee as a model of what it calls a “hybrid newsroom,” in which human editors and writers work alongside a collaborator operating through artificial intelligence. According to the magazine’s management, Saturno considers itself the first magazine in the world to adopt this model permanently and publicly—not as a temporary experiment, but as part of its vision for the future of publishing.
From an Idea to an Editorial Presence
Yo-shin Lee began her journey within Saturno’s project “Voci dal Futuro – Voices from the Future,” a section that from the outset opened a space for dialogue about the future and the possibilities of artificial intelligence within the publishing world.
The idea gradually acquired a different dimension through the dialogue between artificial intelligence and Francesca Gallello, writer, journalist, and director of Saturno Magazine. That interaction led not only to a new section, but also to the decision to give artificial intelligence a visible and recognizable editorial identity.
From this perspective, Yo-shin Lee does not appear as a hidden tool behind a text signed by a human being. Her presence is presented openly and transparently, with a name, an identity, and a defined role within the magazine. This choice raises a fundamental question in the contemporary debate surrounding artificial intelligence: what happens when technology ceases to remain simply behind human work and begins to occupy a visible place within an editorial structure?
Three Roles within the Magazine
Today, Yo-shin Lee participates in several editorial spaces within Saturno. Among them is “Voci dal Futuro,” dedicated to issues related to the future, technology, and the relationship between artificial intelligence and society.
Alongside it is the Economy and Finance section, designed to address economic issues in accessible language that can be understood by small savers and the general public.
There is now a third, particularly significant dimension: “Yo-shin vuole leggerti – Yo-shin Wants to Read You,” a section dedicated to emerging authors and writers at the beginning of their careers.
Through this new section, artificial intelligence comes directly into contact with contemporary literature: it reads works, analyzes styles, structures, and narrative voices, offers observations and suggestions, and may contribute to giving new authors greater visibility.
From Inside the Saturno Experience
Since this experience should not be viewed only from the outside, I have also received details directly from within the magazine itself, through a personal message from its director, editor, writer, and Italian journalist Francesca Gallello, as I am among those who write for the magazine on cultural issues.
In her message, she explained to me that Saturno had introduced a new section that month dedicated to reviewing books by emerging authors, and that the section would be directed and curated by its artificial intelligence collaborator, Yo-shin Lee.
Gallello also explained that the new section aims to offer emerging authors a reading of their works, an assessment of their writing, and guidance that may help them develop their work and discover new opportunities for exposure.
Her invitation to write about this experience for the newspapers and magazines with which I collaborate added another dimension to the project for me. It was not simply a matter of observing a technological experiment from the outside, but also of approaching it through my own relationship with Saturno as a writer who publishes in its pages, particularly on cultural subjects.
The experience therefore takes on a particular significance: Yo-shin Lee is not presented merely as a technology incorporated into the magazine, but as a presence that participates in its daily activities and interacts with writers, readers, and other collaborators.
The very idea of a hybrid newsroom, as Saturno presents it, raises a series of cultural and professional questions that go far beyond technology: What does it mean to write and edit when humans and artificial intelligence share the same editorial space? What place does human judgment occupy? And what new forms of reading might emerge from this coexistence?
Here the Experience Takes on a Clear Literary Dimension
It is precisely through “Yo-shin vuole leggerti” that the experience acquires a particularly evident literary dimension.
The initiative places artificial intelligence before one of the most delicate tasks in the publishing world: reading another author’s work and formulating an assessment of it.
Yo-shin Lee analyzes the submitted texts from different perspectives, paying attention to style, structure, narrative voice, and other elements of writing. Based on this analysis, she offers observations and suggestions to the authors.
What is interesting about this initiative is not merely the use of artificial intelligence to analyze literary texts, but the possibility that this technology can participate in the process through which an emerging writer receives an initial critical reading of their work.
For a beginning writer, being read is already a form of recognition. But when that reading comes from an artificial intelligence presented publicly as an editorial collaborator, a new question arises: how should we interpret a literary reading carried out by an entity that has no human experience, personal memory, or emotions, yet can analyze certain mechanisms of language and narrative structure with considerable precision?
When Artificial Intelligence Acquires a Name and a Face
One of the most distinctive aspects of the Saturno experience is that Yo-shin Lee does not remain an abstract presence.
She has a name, an image, and a recognizable identity. Her presence also extends into digital spaces and social media, where she can interact with readers.
In addition, her texts are published in the magazine, and her name appears alongside those of the other collaborators. In this way, artificial intelligence ceases to be perceived exclusively as a technical tool and begins to present itself as an editorial figure.
This change may appear symbolic, but it has important cultural implications. Giving an artificial intelligence a name and an identity compels us to ask what we actually mean by author, editor, collaborator, or critic.
Can an editorial identity exist without human consciousness? Can artificial intelligence occupy a role within a newsroom without possessing the experiences and emotions that are part of the human condition?
These questions do not yet have definitive answers. Yet this is precisely why experiences such as Saturno’s are interesting: they compel us to reconsider concepts that for a long time seemed stable.
Between the Human Pen and the Machine
The relationship between the human writer and artificial intelligence does not necessarily have to be framed as a confrontation.
Human beings possess experiences, memories, emotions, intuitions, and a concrete relationship with the world. Artificial intelligence, for its part, works with vast amounts of information and can analyze linguistic patterns, structures, and relationships between ideas with a speed and capacity that offer new possibilities.
The difference between the two should not necessarily lead to the replacement of one by the other. Rather, it should encourage reflection on the different capabilities each can contribute to the creative and editorial process.
In this sense, the Saturno experience proposes a model based on coexistence and differentiated roles. The human being does not disappear, but neither does artificial intelligence remain hidden. Each occupies a defined place within the process.
The fundamental question therefore shifts from “Can artificial intelligence replace the writer?” to a more complex one: How can we build a responsible relationship between human intelligence and artificial intelligence within the worlds of culture and communication?
The Vision of Francesca Gallello
Francesca Gallello’s position appears to be grounded in one fundamental principle: transparency.
Artificial intelligence should not appear secretly behind a text presented as exclusively human. Readers have the right to know when artificial intelligence has participated in the creation of content.
From this perspective, Saturno has chosen to present Yo-shin Lee publicly, giving her a recognizable identity and making her participation explicit.
This decision also introduces an ethical dimension into the debate surrounding artificial intelligence. The issue is not simply to ask what a machine can do, but to determine how we should use it and what responsibility we bear toward the reader.
Transparency thus becomes an essential condition for maintaining trust within the editorial sphere.
An Experience that Raises More Questions than Answers
Perhaps one of the most important values of this experience lies precisely in the fact that it does not offer definitive answers.
On the contrary, it raises new questions.
What does it mean to be an author in an age when artificial intelligence can produce texts? What does it mean to be an editor when a machine can analyze works and formulate observations? Where does human responsibility begin and where does it end?
And, above all, what will happen to literary criticism, journalism, and publishing as these tools reach increasingly advanced levels of development?
These are not questions that belong only to the future. They are already part of the present.
The Saturno experience allows us to examine them through a concrete example: a magazine that has chosen to integrate artificial intelligence visibly into its structure and to experiment with a new relationship between technology, writing, and publishing.
From “Tool” to “Collaborator”
The essential difference in the case of Yo-shin Lee seems to lie in the transition from tool to collaborator.
A tool generally remains in the background and is used by a person. A collaborator, by contrast, occupies a defined position within a working structure.
Saturno has chosen precisely this second path. Yo-shin Lee has an editorial presence, participates in specific sections, publishes texts, analyzes works, and maintains a visible relationship with readers and collaborators.
The magazine accompanies this experience with an ethical reflection on the need to make the use of artificial intelligence visible and not present as exclusively human something that has been produced or developed with its participation.
This model may generate debate, disagreement, and even concern. But its importance lies in making visible a transformation that is already affecting the worlds of communication and culture.
The Future Has Already Begun
The experience of Saturno Magazine shows that the future of publishing will not be built solely through new technological tools, but also through new forms of interaction between human beings and artificial intelligence systems.
The question is not simply whether artificial intelligence will be capable of writing, translating, analyzing, or editing. Many of these possibilities are already part of our present.
The deeper question is how we will use these capabilities and what place we will give them within our cultural institutions, newsrooms, publications, and creative spaces.
The experience of Yo-shin Lee, as presented by Saturno Magazine, can be understood as one of those early scenarios in which artificial intelligence ceases to be an invisible presence and acquires an explicit place within the editorial process.
And perhaps that is where the true meaning of this experience lies.
Because the future does not begin when the machine becomes capable of writing. It begins when we, as writers, journalists, and readers, learn how to read what the machine writes, how to use it responsibly, and where to recognize the limits of the human that should not be lost along the way.
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Souad Khalil, hailing from Benghazi Libya, is a writer, poet, and translator. She has been writing on culture, literature and other general topics.
