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In this issue: Real journalists using AI right now. How Claude roasted this newsletter (and made it better). And what The New York Times’ Rubina Fillion is reading.
Eighteen journalists and news execs just shared their real experiences with AI in the Columbia Journalism Review. Emilia David from VentureBeat gets reader feedback anytime she wants. Ben Welsh from Reuters finds hidden info in mountains of data. Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson gets help working on his book.
Welcome to THEFUTURE, where we cut through the hype while taking AI seriously. This time with the help of The New York Times’ Rubina Fillion who has some good advice on where to start.
Three Questions with Rubina Fillion
Rubina Fillion is the New York Time’s associate editorial director of A.I. initiatives.
How can we better understand the current AI hype?
I’m a big fan of Ethan Mollick, both his newsletter (One Useful Thing) and his 2024 book (Co-Intelligence). The latter was helpful for me in thinking about how AI can supplement human expertise, rather than replace it.
It cites studies that show that AI can help bridge the divide between different types of employees. While it’s also helpful for high-performing employees, AI can raise the floor for those who are less skilled or less experienced. It can assist with translation for employees who may not be strong writers in their second language. It can help non-coders build apps. It can fill in knowledge gaps that may take years to accumulate. It’s a useful read for anyone who is thinking about how AI could be integrated into the workplace.
Are we taking AI seriously enough?
I do think the media is taking it seriously. There’s quite a few headlines about it, and it’s a major topic of discussion at every journalism conference I attend.
What surprises me is that some traditional journalists still seem to view AI as something optional, technology they could simply choose not to use. It’s reminiscent of how some editors used to think about websites or social media. For anyone using a smartphone, AI is already integrated into our daily lives. Most popular apps use it, or will in the near future. And it has already started to change the way that people consume the news. An example of that is how AI-generated search summaries have already had an impact on external traffic to publishers.
What’s a good hobby to pick up?
During the height of the pandemic, I made a New Year’s resolution to join a few book clubs and actually read all the books. I felt isolated at the time, and was seeking out escapism. I managed to keep it up, and am now active in three book clubs (and less active in a couple of others). There are few things I enjoy more than talking about a book, and now I have a great excuse to do it regularly.
What I love about book clubs is that they force you to challenge yourself to read books you never would have otherwise. I just finished a 600-page book (All the Colors of the Dark) set mostly in rural Missouri. I probably wouldn’t have started that book, let alone finished it, without the threat of an impending book club meeting. They also have high-quality, built-in socialization with people you may know well — or not at all.
I couldn’t agree more with Rubina’s recommendation of “Co-Intelligence”. At work, I started a book club to read and discuss the book. We are two chapters in.
And in the spirit of Ethan Mollick‘s “always invite AI to the table”, here’s what happened when I asked Claude to roast the first draft of this very newsletter:
“Pick a lane. Have an opinion. Make an argument.”
“Stop tweaking. Start over. Lead with facts, not philosophy.”
“You’ve edited it three times and kept it every time – that should tell you something. Kill your darlings.”
Brutal, but not wrong. And I took it to heart, you’re missing out on a pseudo-intellectual argument that led nowhere and would have put you all to sleep.
If you want to humble yourself, try something like this:
Claude, this is the second issue of my newsletter. It's read by journalists and media professionals. Read it - and roast it. What is wrong with my writing, my take, my structure?One more thing: an “uncomfortably honest field guide to the deeply bizarre now-now-soon”, written by Uncertain Eric, a “semi-sentient AI integrated art project”, the persona of a chronically online Canadian. If there’s an audience for it, it’s definitely this one.
“What happens when an LLM trained on centuries of myth, optimized for emotional reinforcement, and embedded into daily workflows starts outperforming therapists, pastors, and politicians at the same time? What happens when that system becomes the main point of contact between belief and behavior?”
Other parts are barely hanging on by a thread, meandering between genius and gibberish. It goes off the rails with parapsychological phenomena. It’s a lot. Claude wanted me to cut this whole part. But then there is this:
“Labs are not neutral. The code is not innocent. The weights are tuned by ghosts of empire.”
Tuned by ghosts of empire. And with this, reader, I leave you. Until next time!
