Sipho Kings at the Nieman Lab:
This moment feels like rock bottom. And in this crisis, there ought to be so much opportunity.
But we’re not learning from the past. Instead, we’re approaching this new era of generative AI much like we did platforms. Big Western newsrooms are signing secret deals to make some money. Our luminaries talk of the opportunities that come with becoming a feedstock to genAI companies (no doubt prompted by media events being sponsored by AI companies). The rest, notable exceptions noted, are already on the verge of collapse, and are using AI to replace journalists, then hoping the algorithms can get gamed.
We seem to have missed the key point here: These are corporations. They do not have a public interest incentive. They expect to profit in a burning world. And they will do what corporations do. We will lose. The public will lose.
That’s the path we are on in 2026. And yes, there will be some spots of innovation that stop total collapse. They won’t be enough. Unless our industry decides that this hopeless future isn’t inevitable. Maybe that’ll be the 2027 thing.