Perplexity is excited to announce our first philanthropic venture: a gift to Northwestern's @MedillSchool @knightlab. This research will continue exploring how journalists can responsibly use AI and other ways tech and news companies can collaborate. Learn more pplx.ai/northwestern

Tough news for Axios yesterday with its first-ever layoffs, citing “shifting reader behavior" and "AI". This is a brutal wake-up call for the media industry. While it is unfortunate because it impacts so many talented journalists, the reality is that language models excel at versioning, transforming a format into something specific—be it Axios’s smart brevity or BuzzFeed’s listicles. The era of differentiating solely on content formats and editorial voice is over. Original reporting, proprietary data, and a strong technology backbone will be crucial as AI becomes ubiquitous in newsrooms. This development at Axios is particularly noteworthy and, in a way, ironic given Axios’ previous stance on AI in their manifesto: “Every item will be written or produced by a real person with a real identity. There will be NO AI-written stories. NO bots. NO fake accounts.” It also highlights the need for media companies to embrace AI as a tool for scaling content and reaching wider audiences. This doesn’t negate the invaluable role of journalists in original reporting and newsgathering—skills AI cannot replicate. Instead, it suggests a symbiotic relationship where AI enhances the reach and impact of journalistic work.Newsrooms will have to reimagine their workforce in the age of AI, and that doesn’t have to mean layoffs. Instead, they can allocate more resources to newsgathering roles, lighten roles related to editing and copy, and transition into roles like “editorial prompt engineers,” leveraging their expertise to guide AI in content creation. The future of media lies in a blend of human ingenuity and AI capabilities: adapt to technological advancements or risk being left behind. niemanlab.org/2024/08/axios-…

Concurrently with being a Nieman fellow, I'll also be joining the Berkman Klein Center at Havard for 2024-25. Looking forward to jamming with these cool cats...

Congratulations ⁦@MelissaBell⁩ Chicago Public Media names Melissa Bell as new CEO wbez.org/pressroom/chicago-p…

.@voxdotcom co-founder and @MedillSchool graduate @MelissaBell named CEO of Chicago Public Media, parent company of @WBEZ and @Suntimes. chicago.suntimes.com/busines…

“As a sector, we need to agree how we expect students to use and acknowledge the role of AI in their work. The same is true of the wider use of AI in other areas of life to prevent a crisis of trust across society.” theguardian.com/education/ar…

Postdoc Alert! We're recruiting a postdoc to work on generative AI & news production. Get your applications in this week for best consideration. Details here: postdocs.northwestern.edu/an…

Both Steve and Mazin have shaped how I think about journalism's purpose in the world. Honored to be in such amazing company: @mazsidahmed @josie_huang @Maria_Hinojosa @SteveEngelberg @CovingtonLLP Thank you @rcfp!

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A rewarding pleasure to work with this crew to get a sense of how newsrooms are contending with #AI read the full report: ai.ap.org

Super excited to have a chance to enhance generative-ai-newsroom.com/ with help from the Knight Foundation and in collaboration with @jeremygilbert news.northwestern.edu/storie…

"I’m not afraid of AI as a journalist," @phoebedoris told @decka227 in their conversation about prompt training, AI anxieties, and her first-of-its-kind role as senior editor for AI strategy and innovation at The Washington Post. niemanlab.org/2024/03/the-wa…

Hearst Newspapers is looking for a Newsroom AI & Automation Engineer. $100k. "develop editorial tools & reader-facing projects that harness generative AI" including a newsletter assistant, an automated-alert system & a user-facing generative AI chatbot. eevd.fa.us6.oraclecloud.com/…

What do the next gen of news consumers want? And how can producers respond to those needs? ICYMI @FTStrategies (where I work) published a report w/ @MedillSchool that tries to answer this question. It builds on some excellent research that I want to give a shout out to. 🧵

Journalism needs leaders who know how to run a business. These are the five crucial skills for the next generation of media leaders in the era of community-centric journalism. niemanreports.org/articles/j…

Launched today: our new @StarTribune "Curious Minnesota" collection that tracks every question we've answered in 5 years in this nifty database: startribune.com/curious-minn… Great work by @StribRoper & team.

Loving this report from @FtStrategies @knightlab and @GoogleNewsInit that identifies emergent behaviors, modes of consumption, and insights from the next generation of news consumers. 👀News Product thinkers bookmark this!

Congats to @jeremygilbert and team!

“Local journalism & American Democracy.” Please click through and read the 2023 Lenfest Impact Report. Proud of this work & grateful to the hundreds of partners, grantees, & community groups, and thousands of donors with whom we work to help invent the next era of local news.

Congratulations to the @BBC_News_Labs team on getting this out! It's an ideal public service response to the growing risk from mis-represented and AI-generated media. You can learn more about their work on this here bbcnewslabs.co.uk/news/2024/…