FT Opens Up Its Content to OpenAI
April 30, 2024
6:32 am
While the NYT pursues its suit against OpenAI, the Financial Times has chosen to license its content to help OpenAI train current and future LLMs.
>> Sam Whitmore
Newsweek Uses AI…
April 18, 2024
2:32 pm
… and it has no problem disclosing how. Reporters still run the joint, but they are getting AI assistance.
The Atlantic’s Karen Hao Has A Big Idea
April 16, 2024
3:04 pm
The Atlantic’s Karen Hao, in conjunction with the Pulitzer Center, is designing a course in AI for journalists. Classes begin next month. Details here. Might
Sherwood.News Is Out
April 16, 2024
2:48 pm
Joshua Topolsky‘s edit project for Robinhood is optimized for mobile but you can peruse it here. The design seems crazy. Context from Axios’s Sara Fischer
Forbes Has A New AI Newsletter
April 16, 2024
2:41 pm
‘The Prompt” is not out yet, but you can sign up for it here.
Axios Will Outflank AI By Lionizing Edit Stars
April 12, 2024
10:47 am
That’s the strategy as expressed to NYT’s Katie Robertson by Axios CEO Jim VandeHei. First up: Eleanor Hawkins, Sara Fischer and Dan Primack.
Digiday: Forbes Paying The Price For Scandal
April 12, 2024
9:05 am
Forbes’s reputation is taking a hit because of the ad scandal unearthed this month by the WSJ. Some advertisers have stopped spending with Forbes, at
For Years, Forbes Ran A Shadow Web Site That Tricked Advertisers
April 5, 2024
10:18 am
What a terrific scoop from the WSJ’s Patience Haggin: Forbes for years operated a shadow, tiny-traffic web site — at www3.forbes.com — that housed advertising
Publishers Using Gen AI To Improve Their Own Search
April 5, 2024
9:25 am
Digiday’s Sara Guaglione has a great scoop on how several publishers — including the FT, Forbes, Business Insider, The Guardian and others — are using
Gen AI Is Over, Eh?
April 4, 2024
2:32 pm
Substack author and Financial Times contributor Gary Marcus stops short of saying Gen AI is over, but does posit that the “bubble” could burst in
YOUR ACCOUNT
FRIDGE NOTES
Congress to Investigate the Omnicom-IPG Deal
December 20, 2024
Well, for now it’s Jim Jordan… but such news illustrates the kind of world we seem to be headed for. Adweek has the details, subscription required.
SWMS Predictions for 2025
December 10, 2024
No “predictions” post will appear on this site. That said, quite a number of subscribers have asked for a Zoom/MS Teams presentation on what 2025 will bring. A conversation is precisely the right tool for the job. After the election — and with AI transforming publishing and life — “2025” is best discussed among peers, not predicted. So if you’d like to have a confidential group exchange on what stands to unfold, and why, and how comms pros can come out on top in spite of it all, drop a line and we shall schedule something.
Talk About Confidentiality…
December 10, 2024
According to Adweek, Omnicom CEO John Wren and IPG CEO Philippe Krakowsky were in merger talks for eleven and a half months before the transaction was announced this week. Amazing that it didn’t leak.
Introducing ‘SWMS Sound Thinking’
November 22, 2024
Should PR pros stop visiting X, with all its lies and hate? It’s only going to get worse. Or are tidbits from targets too important to walk away from? Click here to watch tech edit vet David Strom and I disagree (at high speed) about this, as one compelling visual after another pops up on your screen. In 2025, SWMS will officially launch “SWMS Sound Thinking,” designed to be “argumentative insight in six minutes or less.” Each segment will explore a timely and controversial topic of interest to tech comms pros. This prototype runs 5:25. Hope you enjoy it — feedback vital and welcome! –Sam
Business Insider Reporters Starting to Go on Camera
November 19, 2024
New EIC Jamie Heller has asked her reporters to start going on camera — for the BI TikTok channel — to explain the big, deep-divey story they just published. Other publications do this — especially archival Fortune. BI is now on that too. Game on.
The ‘AI Fantasy Draft’ From Eric Newcomer
November 13, 2024
At this time last year, Eric Newcomer and his two podcast co-hosts — Max Child and James Wilsterman — each formed an “AI startup fantasy team” and picked five AI startups to seed their rosters. We’re now in year 2 and it’s time to draft again. The podcasters wonder… which startups do they dump? Which do they add? The player whose startups accumulate the most total value by Nov. 1, 2028 is the winner, so there’s plenty of time to make adjustments. Here’s a link to the AI fantasy team podcast — you may need a password. Not sure.