Local news has never been more essential, but the challenges have never been greater. In this fireside conversation, Axios COO Allison Murphy and longtime local news leader at ABC and CBS Wendy McMahon explore what it takes to build sustainable local journalism at scale, from the growth and lessons of Axios Local to the rapidly expanding role of AI. Together, they’ll examine how technology can make local reporting more efficient, more personalized and more valuable to communities without sacrificing the human reporting and trust that make local journalism matter. The conversation will look beyond how AI is disrupting news to a more provocative question: Can AI actually help solve the local news crisis?