What AI means for the business of: journalism
"[An] archipelago of high-trust communities [is] where journalists are uniquely capable of building thriving businesses."| Ben Werdmuller
AI at scale isn't scaling.| Ben Werdmuller
Reporter Andy Kroll explains Vought’s rise from a congressional staffer to the man piloting everything from Trump's layoffs and agency closings to his shutdown strategy, controlling the fate of trillions of dollars and millions of federal workers.| Ben Werdmuller
Blogging was a different medium - and there's still a need for it more than ever.| Ben Werdmuller
A framework for newsroom build vs buy decisions.| Ben Werdmuller
"[An] archipelago of high-trust communities [is] where journalists are uniquely capable of building thriving businesses."| Ben Werdmuller
MEP Alexandra Geese argues that Europe needs its own infrastructure, social networks, and software. Rising US authoritarianism means the clock is ticking.| Ben Werdmuller
The needs are real – and you have so much power.| Ben Werdmuller
The new version of Ghost connects every site to an open social network that provides built-in reach without losing independence.| Ben Werdmuller
I bawled my way through Nowhere Special, a 2020 movie about a terminally ill man who needs to find a new family for his four year old son. I’ll be thinking about it for years. It’s the story of a window cleaner with a terminal| Ben Werdmuller
Many of our colleagues' communities are being directly targeted by an increasingly authoritarian, anti-immigrant regime. As managers and leaders, we have a duty of care. It starts with listening.| Ben Werdmuller
It turns out that "we're protecting democracy and our industry is dying, please pay us money" is not a great sales pitch.| Ben Werdmuller
This simple, repeatable framework for building a culture of open feedback has been a part of my toolkit for over a decade.| Ben Werdmuller
How law enforcement and private parties can access your information without your knowledge, and what you can do about it.| Ben Werdmuller
Preparing viable alternatives for broadcast censorship and a restricted internet.| Ben Werdmuller
Casey Newton's annual updates are always great. This year, perhaps predictably, the biggest highlight for me is his ambitions around community. We need stronger community platforms to support newsrooms.| Ben Werdmuller
Has the internet led to more polarization, or is this more of a great unmasking, where people feel more comfortable to share opinions they've always held?| Ben Werdmuller
An open source project aimed at making medical research easier.| Ben Werdmuller
"Obviously, any campaign that used only that AI-generated data would miss the mark — instead of looking at the views of real respondents, it would be looking at a funhouse mirror reflection of a demographic cooked up by a language model with no access to actual data."| Ben Werdmuller
From startup CTO to newsroom leader: Ask me anything.| Ben Werdmuller
"Artificial-intelligence startup Perplexity offered to purchase Google’s Chrome browser for $34.5 billion as it works to challenge the tech giant’s web-search dominance."| Ben Werdmuller
Writing at the intersection of technology, media, and democracy by Ben Werdmuller| Werd I/O
Newsletter subscribers might be surprised to see a slightly new design. I’ve moved away from Substack and back to Buttondown, an indie mailing list service.| Werd I/O
