In this issue: Predictions for journalism in 2026. Why explainers are dead and APIs for news might save us. My own prediction: to compete with machines, we become more human. Plus: Three questions with Ukrainian journalist Kateryna Noshkaliuk on AI, inclusion, and the disinformation snowball.
What we’re talking about: Smart people are trying to outdo each other with the sharpest takes: Nieman Lab’s Predictions for Journalism is a treat I look forward to every year. Where do we stand, and what futures seem possible? On one hand, a consensus is emerging. On the other, there are educated bets on what might come to pass.
“Sorry, the explainer is dead”, writes Marie Gilot. Hot take incoming! “Here’s the type of content losing to AI: explainers, how-tos, evergreens, aggregated news, resource lists, hours of operation for government offices, recipes.”
There is a new reality we have to grapple with. Journalism pundit Jeff Jarvis joins David Caswell in calling for “APIs for news”: “By blocking AI, journalism is abdicating control of society’s information ecosystem to pitchmen and propagandists.”
And it’s not all about AI, there are other takes with wild implications like this from John Herrman: “Political media will embrace prediction markets as both a source of information and as a meta-object for coverage.”
Before I give you my prediction for 2026, here’s what else I’ve been reading:
“The Washington Post last week rolled out AI-generated podcasts, ignoring internal reviews that found errors in AI scripts, like fabricated quotes, and had deemed more than two-thirds of them unpublishable.” (Max Tani, Semafor)
Google is rolling out Preferred Sources globally and has unveiled new AI features as well as new partnerships with news publications. SPIEGEL is one of the partners. (Google)
A Kenyan author on the supposed markers of AI-generated text: “The very things you identify as the fingerprints of the machine are, in fact, the fossil records of our education.” (Marcus Olang’, This Man’s Mind)
Sci-fi author and digital activist Cory Doctorow on the AI bubble: “The promise AI companies make to investors is that there will be AIs that can do your job, and when your boss fires you and replaces you with AI, he will keep half of your salary for himself, and give the other half to the AI company. (…) But AI can’t do your job.”
Reinforcing competence: AI companies are paying thousands of lawyers, consultants, and other professionals through startups like Mercor and Surge to write out in detail what counts as a job well done in every conceivable context. (Josh Dzieza and Hayden Field, The Verge)
Vibe coding starter guide for newsrooms (Joe Amditis, Center for Cooperative Media)
My prediction for 2026: To compete with machines, we become more human. “Let’s put humans front and center — the readers we serve, engaging them more deeply, inviting them closer. We need strong bonds, community, events. We need to do what AI platforms aren’t interested in, because it doesn’t scale, it’s not safe, it’s not predictable.” There is a catch though: “AI raised the bar, and now we need to be both better and different. (…) All of this costs money upfront, and the ROI might just be staying in business.” Read the full prediction on the Nieman Lab’s website.
And now: Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky was in Berlin this week, negotiating security guarantees with the US and Europe. Russia’s war is about to enter its fifth year. There are attacks on Kyiv, power outages—constantly. In the face of this horror, journalists like Kateryna Noshkaliuk keep working. I met her in Riga at the Baltic Centre for Media Excellence. I’m very grateful she took the time to answer three questions.
