Tough Choices

Immersive voice-activated storytelling for smart speakers

Overview

In 2017, TRT World launched Tough Choices, an experimental voice application built for Amazon Echo devices that invited listeners to step into the emotional complexity of conflict zones. The experience presented users with branching narratives drawn from real-world reporting, guiding them through harrowing, life-altering scenarios where every decision was made through voice alone. It was a bold departure from the static content typically found on smart speakers at the time—blending journalism, game mechanics, and conversational AI into a deeply human form of interactive storytelling.

Strategic Vision

The project was conceived and executed under Derrick Fountain’s leadership as Head of R&D at TRT World. At a time when most broadcasters were still experimenting with basic flash briefings, he saw an opportunity to push voice platforms further—exploring how natural language interaction could create empathy and agency in global news storytelling. From product strategy and feature definition to narrative collaboration and technical design, Derrick led the initiative across every layer of execution.

The intent was to rethink how audiences engage with difficult topics like war, not as passive listeners, but as participants making decisions with real narrative consequences. This required developing a custom interaction model tailored for smart speakers, balancing the unpredictability of voice input with the linear demands of audio production. The experience was localized, multilingual, and narrated by voice actors rather than relying on default text-to-speech, creating a sense of intimacy that mirrored traditional radio dramas while offering users control over the path.

Launch & Execution

Tough Choices debuted under the invocation “Alexa, enable Tough Choices,” becoming one of the first interactive audio games released by a global news network. The launch strategy included coordination with Amazon’s content team, press engagement, and community outreach designed to draw early adopters from both news and tech-savvy audiences.

The voice app established an entirely new creative and technical workflow inside TRT, bringing together journalists, audio engineers, developers, and UX designers under a unified product vision. This foundational work directly informed the development of two additional smart speaker applications that followed—extending TRT’s presence across entertainment and daily news formats.

Impact

Tough Choices challenged assumptions about what voice platforms could deliver. While much of the industry treated Alexa and Google Assistant as utilities or notification channels, this project demonstrated that voice could also convey depth, emotion, and ethical nuance. The format made the abstract feel immediate. By asking users to speak aloud their decisions—to choose who lives, who dies, and what happens next—it delivered a form of engagement impossible to replicate on screen.

The success of the project positioned TRT as a creative force in the emerging voice ecosystem and helped shape the organization’s long-term approach to conversational design. More importantly, it proved that even in a space dominated by timers, trivia, and news snippets, there was room for stories that made people pause, listen, and reflect.