Maybe it's obvious, but if LLMs understand language, and code is language, and the digital world runs on code... what digital surface can't you touch via AI systems? My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/surface-te...

Surface Tension

What does the world look like if you look at it like an LLM?

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Really an excuse to post this AI-generated magazine cover and urge you to take our chatbot-powered survey, but also a riff how we can't make assumptions about what AI systems will never do as well as us. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/a-thousand...

A Thousand Words

It’s not really about the survey, but could you fill it out please?

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What happens to all our systems and structures when it's cost-effective to write a program for a single person, or chase down thousands of leads? My latest about the impact of AI on journalism for the Tow-Knight Center for Journalism Futures at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/its-the-ec...

It's The Economics, Stupid

Money really does make the world go round.

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How much might speech interfaces — I just tested out ChatGPT LIve — change the nature and business of news? Could it unlock untapped demand for news, even as it reshapes how we communicate information? My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/talk-to-me

Talk To Me

Voice, the final (for now) frontier.

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Are we sure we should be sure? When readers - intention - drive the creation of narrative, how much should we trusting they can make up their own minds if we tell them what we know and what we don't? My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/the-uncert...

The Uncertainty Principle

How sure are we that being sure is the right thing to be?

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If AI systems excel at swaying opinion — and they do — then we need to worry about who controls how the stories they create for us are framed, what facts are presented, whose perspectives are seen. My latest for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/believe-me

Believe Me

How can I persuade you that AI systems are really good at changing your mind?

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What does an AI-intermediated future look like for news and public information? My theory, and thoughts about what do about it, in my latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. A sort of season 1 recap of the whole substack. You're welcome. restructurednews.substack.com/p/whats-it-a...

What's It All About?

So what are we talking about here, anyway?

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What happens when you have a system that doesn't abide by unwritten norms and assumptions? It can get so much more done — and it can trample safeguards we've come to rely on. My latest post for CUNY's Tow-Knight Center, about the unintended consequences of an AI-intermediated future. bit.ly/4eHam4q

Unconventional

AI is not normal.

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How can we position ourselves for the coming news landscape if we don't have a theory of what it will look like? We can't strategize for what we haven't imagined. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY, about needing "theories of change." restructurednews.substack.com/p/change-agent

Change Agent

The journey of a thousand miles begins…with having some idea of where you ought to go.

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Imagine if we had just used word processes as glorified typewriters, or thought of electricity as just more stable steam power; why, then do we build newsroom agents to mimic humans and fit into human workflows? My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. bit.ly/4fPnOEf

In Our Image

What species should populate the newsroom of the future?

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What are humans good for? And when does it matter? Musings about when we might want center human capabilities in news production — and when we might not, in my latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/only-human

Only Human

What are humans good for, anyway?

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JESS, our AI-powered safety and security tool is live! The goal is to help smaller newsrooms and freelancers assess security risks while reporting. And it offers us about what and how we should build journalism tools. Too many people to thank here in one post, but read on: bit.ly/4v51wD5

Safety First

Our journalist safety and security bot is live!

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When coding is cheap and data is plentiful, where does value lie? Good questions. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY, about how creative imagination and smart questions drive value in an age where tools and systems are easy to build. restructurednews.substack.com/p/just-askin...

Just Asking Questions

When coding is cheap and data is plentiful, where does value lie?

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If news was a restaurant, what kind of restaurant would it be? My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY balancing the quality of journalism, connection with community and the personal touch in the new information ecosystem. restructurednews.substack.com/p/news-diet

News Diet

If news was a restaurant, what kind of restaurant would it be?

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How will we — or our agents — know who — or which agents — to trust on an internet that's increasingly designed for bots, not humans? The looming trust question for coming internet of agents, in my latest post the the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/trust-bust...

Trust Busters

On the internet, no one knows you’re a bot.

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Does the path tosustainability involve encoding our expertise and migrating upmarket? A riff on Francesco Marconi's paper, Who Will Monetize Truth, and what we can do to begin to explore that future. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/pricing-pe...

Pricing Personas

Is a path to sustainability selling intelligence and expertise rather than stories?

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What would a city built from scratch with self-driving cars look like; and what would the news and information look like if we built it today? My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. Plus, bonus AI-generated lyrics about news architecture. restructurednews.substack.com/p/all-too-well

All Too Well

If you were building the news ecosystem from scratch, what would it look like?

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What can journalism do to help reduce polarization? Does serving our readers too well make matters worse? Can technology help make it better? My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY (where I riff off the ever-insightful Jonathan Stray.) restructurednews.substack.com/p/stray-thou...

Stray Thoughts

Is journalism incentivized for polarization?

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What will the competitive landscape for journalists look like for those who embrace AI tools, those who are decent at using them, and those who eschew them altogether? Musings on the mindsets that might make a major difference. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. bit.ly/4caUKUq

Millions of Mediocre Minions

Gen AI will likely upturn the competitive landscape for journalists.

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Telling an LLM "you're a smart editor" doesn't make it one; but defining and requiring it to work through a rigorous series of steps — the way an actual editor would — can get it beyond cosplaying. This week's post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/process-ov...

Process Over Persona

Or, getting beyond cosplaying.

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Keeping journalism outlets afloat isn't a goal unto itself; keeping them afloat so communities have access to public interest information is the real goal. Or: What are we in business for? A reminder in this week's post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/the-missio...

The Mission of Money

As we scramble to find ways to keep newsrooms afloat in the coming AI age, let’s not forget why we want to.

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Every technological change has changed how newsrooms create value and make money; what are possible business models in the coming AI age — and what aren't? My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. (It's free! — not a great business model..) restructurednews.substack.com/p/money-matt...

Money Matters

What business are we in, if not the content business?

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Mulling the tradeoffs between saving a news org and saving the news ecosystem in the AI age: two different missions that don't necessarily map onto each other — and sometimes contradict each other. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY restructurednews.substack.com/p/mission-co...

Mission Control

What are we trying to do, and who are we doing it for?

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How many bots does it take to edit a story well? An experiment in adversarial editing in my latest post for the Tow-Knight Center for Journalism Futures at CUNY. Plus, some useful inhumanity. bit.ly/4ubk1pN

Team Of Rivals

If one bot is good, are two better?

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Is Generative AI just overhyped, mindless math, or world-changing technology? What if the skeptics are right — and what if the skeptics of the skeptics are right? My post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY digs into what we don't know we don't know. restructurednews.substack.com/p/nothing-to...

Nothing To See Here

What if AI is just hype — and what if it isn’t?

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Some thoughts on how our writing will evolve — no more scintillating leads and witty kickers? — if we're writing news mostly for machines and AI agents to read and summarize for human users instead of directly for humans. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. bit.ly/4akceOn

Attention Spans

Are you the sort of person who loves stories that start with a question?

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We wanted to make it easier to figure out what all the Nieman Lab predictions said, so we built a RAG (and a chatbot.) But really what we wanted to figure out was how to build a RAG and a chatbot. Follow along! restructurednews.substack.com/p/the-future...

The Future of Predictions

My chatbot read 511 Nieman Lab predictions so you don’t have to.

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Dispatches from the (near) future: My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center for Journalism Futures at the Newmark School of Journalism at CUNY, about how the way we create and consume news may be changing faster than we think. restructurednews.substack.com/p/dispatches...

Dispatches From The Future

Objects in the front windscreen may be nearer than they appear — with apologies to Meat Loaf

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The LLMs reply: What Claude and ChatGPT have to say about my last post about Structured Journalism. restructurednews.substack.com/p/wwcd

WWCD?

What Would Claude (or ChatGPT) Do?

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Updating the circa-2010 idea of Structured Journalism for the LLM Age; my latest for the Tow-Knight Center for Journalism Futures at CUNY. (Claude and ChatGPT will push back later in the week...) bit.ly/3Zh5ria

Restructuring Structured Journalism: A Manifesto (of Sorts)

Well, this is a blast from the past.

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