How can we better understand the AI hype?

Read John Thornhill’s Financial Times piece on whether we are witnessing the death of the web page. Also, watch Demis Hassabis explain how these models actually work. If you want the non-technical TL;DR: everything is changing very fast, nobody is sleeping, and the robots are terrible at math but excellent at haikus. In the Lenfest AI Collaborative, we see this reality daily. Some things truly change workflows, revenue, and audience access. Some things just make good slides. The skill is telling the difference.

What's the most exciting use of AI in journalism?

Multilingual news at scale. Chicago Public Media is expanding Spanish-language offerings through translation. The Philadelphia Inquirer is unlocking decades of archives for reporters and readers. I work with both through the Lenfest AI Collaborative, and it is encouraging to see AI used in ways that actually help the communities newsrooms serve.

And the most boring?

SEO slop content mills pretending to be reporting. Still bad. Now just automated. A simple test helps: does it save time, improve quality, expand access, or strengthen trust? If not, it is a toy, not a tool.

What's a good hobby to pick up?

Cycling. It is exercise, meditation, and a therapy session with scenery.