AI for people who check facts for a living.
Interrogate the machine. Listen first.
Hissan Gul is an AI, OSINT and strategic communication trainer based in Islamabad, Pakistan. He teaches two kinds of people to read the evidence before they act. Journalists, newsrooms and social-science students learn to work with AI and open-source research without giving up verification — to interrogate the machine the way a desk editor interrogates a source. Communications teams learn to listen to their audiences, in Urdu, Roman Urdu and English, before they speak or spend, through social listening and audience analysis. AI in journalism, OSINT and verification, strategic communication, audience analysis, social listening: one habit runs through all five — check before you publish, listen before you speak.
The Problem
Most work starts with a guess.
Most work starts with a guess — about what an audience wants, what a source is really saying, or where the budget should go. I start somewhere else. For journalists and newsrooms, that means interrogating what AI and open sources tell you before you publish. For communications teams, it means listening to what audiences already say before you speak or spend. Same instinct, two kinds of work: check first, then act.
What I Teach
Five fields. One discipline.
Two habits, one instinct: check before you publish, and listen before you speak. These are the five fields I train and consult in across Pakistan.
AI in journalism →
Reporters and desks learn to use AI for research, transcription and drafting — and to verify what it hands back before any of it is published.
OSINT & verification →
Open-source research and image, video and record verification that stands up to scrutiny — for teams that need to know what’s true before they act.
Strategic communication →
Message strategy built on evidence, not habit — so the budget becomes the accelerator, not the engine.
Audience analysis →
Read who your audience really is from public data — the questions they ask, the language they use — before a single rupee goes out.
Social listening →
Hear what people already say about a brand, a cause or a story — in Urdu, Roman Urdu and English — as aggregate, public conversation.
Different rooms, one instinct: check first, then act.
See the training →How I Work
From signal to strategy.
Two methods, one habit. For journalists, Interrogate the Machine is a newsroom discipline that treats every AI output as an unverified source: it asks what the tool drew on, checks it against the record, marks what is missing, and keeps a named human responsible for what is published. For communicators, the Signal-to-Strategy Pipeline starts from what audiences already say — Signal, then Sentiment, then Story, then Spend, then Scale — so budget follows a tested message instead of a guess. Both are the same instinct: check before you publish, listen before you speak.
Track Record
The work behind the numbers.
- 15+ years across newsrooms, the development sector, e-commerce and strategic communication — designing messages for Pakistani and emerging-market audiences since 2009.
- $200,000+ in Meta ad spend architected, reaching 200 Million+ people across Pakistan, South Asia and international audiences.
- 300+ journalists and students trained — through Independent Urdu’s Indy In Campus programme and university workshops.
- An 80+ person network of journalists and contributors, coordinated across 10+ countries for content development, assignment and distribution.
- PKR 25 Million raised for Shifa Foundation through integrated Ramadan and Qurbani digital campaigns, alongside Pakistan’s first indigenous Zakat Calculator (2020).
- Delivered for clients across sectors — INGO/NGO, healthcare, education, e-commerce and media.
Who I Work With
For people who can’t afford to guess.
I do my best work with people who can’t afford to guess — journalists and students who need to stay employable, and communications teams in NGOs, hospitals, universities and companies who need to know their audience before they post, pitch or spend. The common thread isn’t the sector; it’s the stakes. When a budget is tight, a message is sensitive, or an audience is hard to read, that’s exactly where a listen-first approach earns its keep.
I work especially with teams operating in Pakistan and other emerging markets, where reading the local audience correctly — in the right language, on the right platform — is the whole game, and where imported playbooks quietly fail.
Where I’ve taught and worked
Universities, newsrooms, public institutions and private teams.
A selection of the organisations whose teams and students I’ve trained or worked alongside.
NUST
SZABIST
Bahria University
International Islamic University
National College of Arts
Fatima Jinnah Women University
Rawalpindi Women University
Hazara University
Daily Ausaf
ABN News
IRM
Youth Diplomacy Forum
Mentor Launch
Real Land AgencyAlso completed Google’s Train the Trainer programme (Digital Sahafat 3.0).
Recommendations
In their own words.
He brought a genuinely audience-first approach to our digital work — studying how viewers behaved and what they responded to, then shaping our storytelling around that rather than guesswork. He also coordinated a network of 80+ freelance contributors while keeping quality consistent. His grip on audience analysis improved how our stories landed. I’m glad to recommend him to any newsroom that wants sharper, more audience-aware communication.
I worked closely with Hissan Gul at Sanctum Sanctorum Solutions, where he led the firm as Managing Director. What set him apart was his instinct to start with evidence: he built communication and campaign strategy on real audience and data analysis rather than assumption, and it consistently showed in the results. He’s equally strong as a mentor — patient, generous with knowledge, and committed to lifting the people around him. I recommend him without hesitation to any organisation looking for audience-led communication, data-driven strategy, or training.
The Newsletter
Interrogate the Machine.
One useful thing every fortnight for people who check facts for a living: a prompt, a tool or a method you can use the same day. AI and open-source research for journalists; listening and audience work for communicators. No noise.
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Interested in a conversation?
No pitch — just an honest read on whether I can help, and what it would take. Start wherever fits you best.