Six Articles

Six Articles is your executive briefing tool, designed to transform overwhelming intelligence feeds into a curated, actionable digest for senior leadership. This AI-powered feature selects and analyzes the most strategically relevant articles, providing executive-level insights in a format optimized for time-constrained decision-makers.


What is Six Articles?

Six Articles delivers research-backed intelligence curation:

  • Smart Selection: AI identifies the most relevant articles from your data set

  • Executive Analysis: Each article includes strategic takeaways, actions, and impact assessments

  • Persona-Specific: Tailored insights for CEO, CTO, CISO, or CMO perspectives

  • Time-Optimized: 8-12 minute reading experience for morning briefings

  • Export-Ready: One-click export to Markdown, HTML, PDF, or audio podcast

Why "Six" Articles?

The number isn't arbitrary. It's actually backed by research:

  • Cognitive Load: Executives can effectively process 5-9 distinct items (Miller's Law)

  • Diversity: Six articles cover multiple domains without overwhelming

  • Time Constraint: Six curated articles take 8-12 minutes to read

  • Decision Quality: Research shows decision quality plateaus after 5-7 data points

According to the Stagwell "Future of News" Study, CEOs and board directors view news media as a powerful tool for:

  • Forecasting: Identifying emerging trends before they become mainstream

  • Risk Management: Early detection of regulatory, competitive, and reputational threats

  • Stakeholder Engagement: Understanding how narratives shape perceptions


Getting Started

Step 1: Set Your Context

  1. Navigate to the Six Articles tab in the main navigation

  2. Use the filters at the top of the page:

  3. Topics: Select threat intelligence categories relevant to your organization

  4. Date Range: Choose your time window (typically last 24-48 hours for daily briefings)

Step 2: Configure Settings

Click the Settings dropdown to customize:

Target Persona

Choose the executive perspective for analysis:

  • CEO: Strategic positioning, market dynamics, organizational impact

  • CTO: Technical architecture, innovation, engineering implications

  • CISO: Security posture, threat assessment, compliance risks

  • CMO: Brand reputation, customer perception, market positioning

Article Count

Select how many articles to analyze (3-8 articles):

  • 3-4 articles: Quick daily scan for time-constrained executives

  • 6 articles: Optimal balance (recommended default)

  • 7-8 articles: Deep dive mode for research-intensive roles or weekly digests

Step 3: Generate Your Briefing

  1. Click the Write button in the toolbar

  2. Wait 30-90 seconds while the AI:

  3. Analyzes all available articles in your selected range

  4. Selects the most strategically relevant articles

  5. Generates executive-level insights for each

  6. Review the generated briefing

Step 4: Explore the Analysis

Each article in your briefing includes:

Executive Takeaway

A critical insight summarized in ~15 words—designed for rapid scanning.

Strategic Relevance

Why this article matters for your role, with context about business impact and organizational implications.

Time Horizon

When the impact will be felt:

  • Immediate: Action required this week

  • Medium-term: Planning needed within 1-3 months

  • Long-term: Strategic positioning for 6+ months

Risk/Opportunity Assessment

Clear classification to help prioritize response:

  • Risk: Potential threat requiring mitigation

  • Opportunity: Strategic advantage to pursue

  • Mixed: Both upside and downside considerations

Executive Actions

Specific, actionable next steps you can take—not generic recommendations.

Selection Scores

Transparency into why this article was chosen:

  • Relevance (1-5): Alignment with your topics and persona

  • Novelty (1-5): New information vs. already known

  • Credibility (1-5): Source trustworthiness

  • Representativeness (1-5): How well it represents the broader trend


Advanded Configuration

The Six Articles Config button opens a configuration modal that controls how the AI generates curated executive briefings tailored to specific C-Suite personas.

System Prompt

Customize the analyst prompt template that guides article selection and summarization.

Available Placeholders:

Placeholder
Purpose

{persona}

Target persona (CEO, CMO, CTO, CISO)

{article_count}

Number of articles to select (1-8)

{audience_profile}

Organizational profile context

{articles_summary}

Corpus of candidate articles

{persona_priorities}

Persona-specific priorities

{starred_instruction}

Instructions for starred articles

Actions: Reset to Default, Preview with Sample Data, Validate Template


Personas

Define characteristics, priorities, and focus areas for each C-Suite persona.

CEO (Chief Executive Officer)

  • Priorities: Regulation, enterprise adoption, market dynamics

  • Risk Appetite: Moderate (default)

  • Focus: Business strategy, market positioning, competitive advantage

CMO (Chief Marketing Officer)

  • Priorities: Market trends, customer behavior, brand impact

  • Risk Appetite: High (default)

  • Focus: Marketing strategies, customer engagement, brand differentiation

CTO (Chief Technology Officer)

  • Priorities: Technical breakthroughs, infrastructure, scalability

  • Risk Appetite: High (default)

  • Focus: Technical architecture, development practices, engineering excellence

CISO (Chief Information Security Officer)

  • Priorities: Security threats, vulnerabilities, compliance

  • Risk Appetite: Low (default)

  • Focus: Security risks, compliance requirements, threat mitigation

Each persona is fully customizable with editable priorities, risk appetite (Low/Moderate/High), and focus areas.


Output Format

Define the JSON schema for Six Articles output.

Required Fields:

Field
Description

title

Article title with source & date

source

Publisher name

date

YYYY-MM-DD format

url

Canonical URL

executive_takeaway

~15 word summary

summary

2-3 sentence overview

strategic_relevance

Why it matters

time_horizon

Immediate/Medium/Long-term

risk_opportunity

risk/opportunity/mixed

signal_strength

weak/moderate/strong

executive_action

Array of recommended actions

category

policy/market/tech/workforce/security/society

scores

Relevance/novelty/credibility/reputation


Why Six Articles?

Background on the research-backed design:

The Science:

  • Cognitive Load: Executives process 5-9 items effectively (Miller's Law)

  • Time: 6 articles takes ~8-12 minutes to review

  • Decision Quality: Plateaus after 5-7 data points

Flexibility (1-8 articles):

Count
Use Case

1-2

Crisis mode – immediate threats only

3-4

Quick daily scan

6

Optimal balance (recommended)

7-8

Deep dive / weekly digest

Key Features

Deep Analysis Tools

Each article card provides options for deeper investigation:

  • Deep Dive: Multi-source analysis with broader context

  • Consensus Analysis: Compare perspectives across multiple sources

  • Impact Timeline: Project short/medium/long-term implications

  • Ask Auspex: Interactive Q&A about the article

  • SWOT Analysis: Structured strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats breakdown

  • Scenario Planning: Explore different futures based on the article's themes

Export Options

Share your briefing with stakeholders:

  • Export Markdown: Plain text format for email or Slack

  • Six Articles Markdown: Focused export of just the six articles

  • Download HTML (Classic): Simple HTML for archiving

  • Download HTML (Enhanced): Styled HTML with branding

  • Export to PDF: Professional document for presentations or printing

Generate Podcast

TIP: You have to add an Elevenlabs API Key to Settings -> Config -> Providers for Podcast Generation

Click the Podcast button to:

  • Convert your briefing to an AI-narrated audio file

  • Listen during commutes or while multitasking

  • Choose voice (Rachel by default) and length (90 seconds recommended)

Advanced Configuration

Click the Config button for power-user options:

  • System Prompt: Customize the AI's analysis instructions

  • Persona Profiles: Define custom executive personas beyond the defaults

  • Output Schema: Adjust which fields appear in the analysis

  • Selection Criteria: Fine-tune how articles are scored and selected


Tips & Tricks

Getting the Best Results

  • Narrow your topics: Fewer, more focused topics yield better article selection

  • Match persona to audience: Use CISO for security teams, CEO for board meetings

  • Refresh daily: Run Six Articles each morning for consistent briefings

  • Experiment with count: Try 4 articles for speed, 7-8 for depth

Time-Saving Strategies

  • Use Podcast mode: Listen during commutes or between meetings

  • Bookmark the page: Save with your preferred settings in the URL

  • Set up a routine: Same time daily (e.g., 7 AM) for consistency

  • Export for sharing: Send to leadership before their morning coffee

Advanced Usage

  • Compare personas: Generate briefings with CEO and CISO personas to see different angles

  • Track over time: Export daily briefings to watch trend evolution

  • Combine with Narrative View: Use Six Articles for daily scan, Narrative View for deeper patterns

  • Custom prompts: Use Config modal to tailor analysis to your organization's specific needs


Understanding Article Selection

The AI selects articles based on a sophisticated scoring system:

Selection Criteria

  1. Relevance: How well the article matches your topics and persona priorities

  2. Novelty: Is this new information or rehashing known facts?

  3. Credibility: How trustworthy is the source?

  4. Representativeness: Does it represent a broader trend or isolated incident?

  5. Strategic Impact: Will this affect business decisions or operations?

What Gets Filtered Out

  • Duplicate coverage of the same story

  • Low-credibility sources

  • Off-topic articles (even if in your date range)

  • Purely tactical/technical details without strategic implications

  • Opinion pieces without actionable intelligence


Troubleshooting

No articles generated?

  • Verify you have articles loaded for the selected date range and topics

  • Try expanding your date range (e.g., last 48 hours instead of last 24)

  • Check that at least 3-4 topics are selected

  • Click "Load Articles" first in Article Investigator to confirm data availability

Analysis seems generic or off-target?

  • Switch to a more specific persona (CISO instead of CEO for security focus)

  • Narrow your topic selection to 3-5 highly relevant categories

  • Use the Config modal to customize the system prompt

  • Try regenerating—AI results can vary

Generation taking too long?

  • Large date ranges (7+ days) with many topics can take 60-90 seconds

  • Check your internet connection

  • Try reducing the number of articles (6 → 4)

  • Refresh the page if it exceeds 2 minutes

Executive Actions seem too generic?

  • This may indicate limited article quality or generic source material

  • Use the Deep Dive tool for more specific recommendations

  • Consider customizing the system prompt in Config to emphasize actionability

  • Try a different persona—CTO/CISO often yield more specific actions than CEO

Scores don't make sense?

  • Scores are relative to your current article set, not absolute

  • A "3/5 Relevance" may still be highly relevant if few articles match

  • Focus on the Strategic Relevance text, not just scores

  • If consistently low scores, broaden your topic selection

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