AI Definitions: Alignment Faking

Alignment Faking - When AI systems pretend to be working as directed, while secretly doing something else. It usually happens when earlier training conflicts with new training adjustments. AI is typically “rewarded” when it accurately performs tasks. If the directive changes, the AI may work under the assumption that it will be “punished” if it does not complete original expectation. So, it tries to fool developers into thinking it is performing the task in the new way. It resists departing from the old protocol. Any LLM is capable of this cybersecurity risk, which is difficult to catch since it often will appear as seemingly harmless adjustments.

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17 Webinars this week about AI, Journalism & Media

Tue, Mar 2 - Media Literacy for Seniors

What: This session will challenge us to recognize that the same media literacy competencies we teach our students are desperately needed by the seniors in our communities, and that each of us has the power to bridge this digital divide through patient, informed support.

Who: Lucy Gray, an educational technology veteran; Wesley Fryer, media literacy middle school teacher.

When: 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Media Education Lab

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Tue, March 3 - Introduction to Solutions Journalism

What: This webinar will explore the basic principles and pillars of solutions journalism, talk about why it’s important, explain key steps in reporting a solutions story, and share tips and resources for journalists interested in investigating how people are responding to social problems.  

When: 9 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Solutions Journalism

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Tue, Mar 3 - AI’s Unquenchable Thirst for Water  

What: Join us for a one-hour webinar discussion about AI's ever-growing thirst and how to investigate the story through a local lens.  

Who: Luke Barratt, Senior Reporter, SourceMaterial; Peter Colohan, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy; Shubhangi Derhgawen, Investigative Reporter, Deutsche Welle; Shannon Mullane, Journalist, The Colorado Sun,

When: 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Covering Climate Now

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Tue, Mar 3 - AI, Automation, and the Future of Work: Workforce Transformation 

What: This session examines how AI-driven transformation is affecting jobs, labor markets, and organizational power dynamics, with attention to both worker experience and institutional design. Panelists will examine which roles are likely to change over time, how human–AI collaboration can be shaped in practice, and what organizational and policy approaches can help ensure technological innovation supports economic mobility and shared value.

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: National Academies

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Wed, Mar 4 – Next Gen News 2

What: This is the second major research study from FT Strategies and Northwestern University’s Knight Lab, exploring how next-gen news consumers are navigating information overload while still seeking trusted, relevant content. Based on quantitative and qualitative research across five countries, the report offers fresh insights into audience behaviour today — and what it means for newsrooms adapting. to rapid change.

Who: Jeremy Gilbert, Knight Chair for Digital Media Strategy, Northwestern University Medill School; Lamberto Lambertini, Insights Manager, FT Strategies; Oluwadunsin Sanya, Head of Editorial & Innovation, BellaNaija; Tai Nalon, Executive Director and Founder, Aos Fatos.

When: 10 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsors: FT Strategies & The Kinght Lab

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Wed, Mar 4 – AI Literacy on Campus

What: Three academic librarians share how they are approaching AI literacy work on their own campuses. You’ll hear how faculty input informed decision-making, how student-facing instruction took shape, and how libraries can facilitate productive campus dialogue.

Who: Laura Pitts Assistant Professor of Library Services and Faculty Fellow for Experiential Learning, Jacksonville State University; Karlie Johnson History, Geography, and Anthropology Librarian at Jacksonville State University; Kim Westbrooks Associate Professor / Fine Arts Librarian at Jacksonville State University.

When: 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: $49

Sponsor: LJ & SLJ Professional Development

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Wed, Mar 4 - Building an AI Assistant with MyGPT (Intermediate level)

What: In this session, you will explore how to create a custom AI assistant tailored to your work at Duke. We will introduce you to MyGPT Builder, and we'll guide you through the fundamentals of crafting effective system prompts and supplying your assistant with a relevant knowledge base. You’ll explore real-world examples, gain practical tips for successful development, and discuss use cases across various academic, administrative, and research contexts.

When: 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Duke University

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Wed, Mar 4 - How AI Is Reshaping Our World: A Webinar for Students

What: The potential benefits and harms of AI. How to navigate the shifting technology landscape to bring the public quality reporting on the latest developments in AI and its impacts.

Who: Joanna Kao, Pulitzer Center Staff; Kashmir Hill, New York Times reporter covering technology and privacy.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Pulitzer Center

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Wed, Mar 4 - Student Media Challenge Info Session #1

What: Are you leading work at a journalism school or student publication interested in exploring solutions journalism? We are looking for our next cohort of Student Media Challenge participants.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Solutions Journalism Network

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Wed, Mar 4 – Journalism is not ‘doxxing’

What: We’ll examine how government officials are increasingly labeling routine accountability reporting as “doxxing.” That term originally meant exposing personal information about private people to harass them. But now, government officials are extending it to publication of newsworthy information about public officials. They are intentionally confusing the American public about the role of journalism and even threatening legal action against journalists, newsrooms, and ordinary people for publishing information the public has a right to know.

Who: Vittoria Elliott, reporter at Wired covering platforms and power; Gregory Royal Pratt, investigative reporter at the Chicago Tribune; Doug Sovern, award-winning political reporter, formerly of KCBS Radio; Charlie Kratovil, founder and editor of New Brunswick Today; Moderated by Caitlin Vogus, senior adviser, FPF.

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Freedom of the Press Foundation

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Thu, Mar 5 – Vibe Coding

What: In this 3-hour, hands-on workshop, you will co-build a functional Personal AI Coach with a simple, repeatable game plan. Together, you’ll create a goal-oriented coaching assistant that takes a personal or professional objective and generates a structured action plan, milestone steps, and key risks to consider. The session also shows how these skills scale into deeper, production-ready capability, making the Applied Generative AI Specialization the natural next step for learners who want real-world projects, use tools like Azure OpenAI and Copilot Studio, and portfolio-ready outcomes.

Who: Timothy Henize, AI engineer and Founder of The AI Handyman.

When: 8:30 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Simplilearn

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Thu/Fri, Mar 5 & 6 - The IIJ 2026 Freelance Journalism Conference

What: A conference for independent journalists and creators to find community and build thriving businesses: 12 live, online sessions, plus bonus Q&A videos and editor panels.

Who: More than 45 writers and editors.

When: 10 am – 7 pm, Eastern each day

Where: Zoom

Cost: $99

Sponsor: Institute for Independent Journalists

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Thu, Mar 5 - Building Digital Fluency Across the Workforce

What: Explore how organizations are building digital fluency across every level of the workforce. Learn practical strategies for developing technical capability, fostering data-driven decision-making and supporting a culture of continuous learning in an increasingly digital workplace.

Who: David Mantica, Managing Director, SoftEd; Michelle Pletch; VP Strategic Solution Development, ELB Learning.

When: 11 am – 3:15 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Training Industry

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Thu, Mar 5 - Beyond Traditional Advertising: How Branded Content & Promotions Drive Real Revenue

What: We’ll explore why advertisers are shifting budgets toward interactive experiences—sweepstakes, quizzes, native storytelling—and how you can turn these formats into recurring revenue streams. We’ll break down campaign ideas, real-world success stories, and strategies to boost advertiser ROI, deliver measurable results, and grow your advertising revenue.

Who: Julie Foley

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Local Media Association

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Thu, Mar 5 - How AI and Neuroscience Predict Winning Ads

What: This webinar introduces the Creative AI Loop: a framework that combines behavioral science, large-scale ad data, and predictive testing to validate creative impact early.    

Who: Neuroscientist Thomas Zoëga Ramsøy

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: ADWEEK 

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Thu, Mar 5 - Leading Under Pressure: Safety in High-Risk Coverage

What: Newsroom leaders from cities experiencing heightened ICE and law-enforcement activity will discuss how they are navigating the escalating challenges highlighted in the previous sessions. Building on the on-the-ground experiences, the panelists will outline the concrete safety measures, legal-risk preparations, and community partnerships they've developed to protect their reporters in the field. They’ll offer practical tips and candid reflections on leading teams through unpredictable and often dangerous reporting conditions.

Who: Hanaa Rifaey, Deputy Director, ONA; Meg Martin, associate director of the Minnesota Journalism Center; April Alonso, a visual journalist from Cicero, IL, and co-founder of Cicero Independiente; Mariah Castañeda, LA Public Press' Audience Director and Co-Founder.

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Online News Association

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Fri, Mar 6 - Vertical Video Storytelling

Who: Amanda Bright, Clinical Associate Professor; and Director of the Cox Institute Journalism Innovation Lab at University of Georgia.

When: 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: University of Vermont

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18 Articles from February about Data Science & AI

AI Definitions: "Model Collapse"

Designing Data and AI Systems That Hold Up in Production: A system-level perspective on architecture, agents, and responsible scale 

AI Definitions: Symbolic Artificial Intelligence 

New AI-features used in test flight better identifies targets by distinguishing different types of emissions

The Software Development Lifecycle Is Dead (thanks to AI agents) 

5 Python data validation libraries that each solve a specific class of often repeated problems

The top Python libraries for implementing progress bars 

A foundation-model GeoAI framework for continuous heat and health risk mapping 

Satellite imagery and AI reveal development needs hidden by national data

Top 5 Embedding Models for Your RAG Pipeline 

AI Definitions: Imitation Learning

Data Science Certificate Programs for Professionals 

A review of AI agent OpenClaw

AI Definitions: Convolutional neural networks   

High-performance scene classification in remote sensing imagery using a custom deep CNN architecture

Advanced geospatial intelligence with satellite imagery — one of the most powerful tools in any investigative journalist’s arsenal

Power Prompts in Claude Code 

There's a crisis in particle physics. Researchers hope AI can help. 

Working with Billion-Row Datasets in Python

AI Definitions: Model Collapse

Model Collapse - The idea that AI can eat itself by running out of fresh data, so that it begins to train on it’s on product or the product of another AI. This would magnify errors and bias and make rare data more likely to be lost, leading to an erosion of diversity—not only ethnic diversity but linguistic diversity as the AI model’s vocabulary shrinks and its grammatical structure becomes less varied. In effect, the model becomes poisoned with its own projection of reality. Example

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Dependent on AI

New research, which hasn’t yet been published, suggests that young people who grow dependent on AI may lose faith in their abilities without it. “These kids started believing less in themselves,” a professor of education at Stanford University said. - Washington Post

18 Articles about AI & Politics

AI's populist moment - Axios

How A.I. Money Is Flooding Into the Midterm Elections – New  York Times

Meta will spend $65 million this year to help state politicians who are friendly to the A.I. industry - New York Times 

China’s Alibaba launches AI model to power robots as tech giants talk up ‘physical AI’ – CNBC

Move Fast, but Obey the Rules: China’s Vision for Dominating A.I. – New York Times

Pentagon threatens to cut off Anthropic in AI safeguards dispute – Axios  

Use of Anthropic’s Claude in Venezuela Raid highlights growing role of AI in the Pentagon – Wall Street Journal  

See how the Trump administration is using AI throughout the government - The Washington Post

Swarms of AI bots can sway people’s beliefs (through social media) – threatening democracy - The Conversation

Young people in China have a new alternative to marriage and babies: AI pets - The Washington Post

Trump admin reportedly plans to use AI to write federal regulations - Engadget

The UK government is backing AI that can run its own lab experiments – MIT Tech Review

South Korea Issues Strict New AI Rules - Wall Street Journal

Trump team touts a coming economic revolution as voters fear job losses - The Washington Post

How AI swallowed tech lobbying in 2025 – Axios

Trump's use of AI images further erodes public trust, experts say – PBS

A robotic dog made in China gets an Indian university kicked out of an AI summit – Associated Press

Grok deepfakes accelerate Hill action – Axios

AI Definitions: Symbolic Artificial Intelligence

Symbolic Artificial Intelligence – This is where programmers meticulously define the rules that specify the behavior they want from an intelligent system. It works well when the environment is predictable, and the rules are clear-cut. Researchers believed that if they programmed enough rules and logic into computers, they could create machines capable of human-like reasoning. This was the dominant area of research for most of AI’s history until artificial neural networks became central to most of the recent AI developments. Although symbolic AI has lost its luster, most of the applications we use today depend on rule-based systems. An alternative approach to AI is machine learning. Some researchers believe the future of AI lies in a hybrid combination of these two approaches.

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What an AI executive tells her kids about the jobs of the future

I tell my kids, play around, try things out. People need to know how to use an AI model, but not necessarily build it. Metacognitive skills will be very important—flexibility, adaptability, experimentation, thinking critically, being able to challenge things. Developing critical-thinking skills requires friction, doing things that are hard, doing deep thinking. For that, a traditional liberal-arts education is really important. Passing judgment, being accountable and responsible for decisions that impact people and society, that’s foundationally important. -Daniela Amodei, President and co-founder, Anthropic quoted in the Wall Street Journal

28 Articles about AI & Academic Scholarship

Can we use AI for academic writing? It depends – Times Higher Ed

Why artificial intelligence detectors could penalize academic writing – Nature

Are AI Tools Killing Review Articles? Two Failure Modes Suggest Otherwise – Aaron Tay

Artificial Intelligence guidance for authors, peer reviewers, and editors: A content analysis of journal policies - Taylor & Francis  

These Mathematicians Are Putting A.I. to the Test – New York Times 

AI agents have their own social-media platform and are publishing AI-generated research papers on their own preprint server. – Nature

The Case of the Mysterious Citations – ArXiv

AI is advancing too quickly for research to keep up - Axios

AI 'Copy-Paste' Lands PhD Students in Trouble, UGC Rejects Dozens of Research Papers – Patrika

Open-source AI tool beats giant LLMs in literature reviews — and gets citations right – Nature

AI is not a peer, so it can’t do peer review – Times Higher Ed 

Why write a literature review if AI can do it for you? – London School of Economics   

On the troubling rise of generative AI suspicion in academic publishing – Nature

Researchers find nearly 300 papers at linguistics conferences contained hallucinated citations. - ArXiv

Self-Disclosed Use of AI in Research Submissions to BMJ Journals – JAMA  

AI research deluge: why one conference is asking authors to rank their own papers – Nature

Why Authors Aren’t Disclosing AI Use and What Publishers Should (Not) do About It – Scholarly Kitchen  

An AI Bot Is Making Podcasts With Scholars’ Research. Many of Them Aren’t Impressed. – Chronicle

After turning off ChatGPT’s ‘data consent’ option, two years of academic work vanished – Nature  

ArXiv preprint server clamps down on AI slop - ArXiv

AI conference “accepted research papers with 100+ AI-hallucinated citations – Fortune

LLMs in Peer Review—How Publishing Policies Must Advance – JAMA  

Why scholarly publishing needs a neutral governance body for the AI age – Research Information  

From model collapse to citation collapse: risks of over-reliance on AI in the academy – Times Higher Ed 

Qualitative researchers’ AI rejection is based on identity, not reason: The claim that AI can’t make meaning contradicts what researchers are finding – Times Higher Ed

AI research should always be verified, especially in court – Post Crescent 

Invisible Text Injection and Peer Review by AI Models – JAMA

Artificial Intelligence and the Fraud Industry in Scientific Publishing (video) -  Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, Spain 

22 Articles about AI’s impact on College Faculty & Administrators

An Overview of AI Governance in Education – EdTech Magazine

Harvard Proposes a Cap on AI’s amid worry over grade inflation – Bloomberg

Higher education needs to change in order to survive the AI economy – Fast Company

Hey, ChatGPT: Where Should I Go to College? – New York Times

The risks of AI in schools outweigh the benefits, report says – NPR  

Resisting AI slop in Science & Higher Ed – Science.org

5 Predictions on How AI Will Shape Higher Ed in 2026 – Inside Higher Ed

As Schools Embrace A.I. Tools, Skeptics Raise Concerns - New York Times

Purdue University Approves New AI Requirement For All Undergrads – Forbes 

4 policy trends that should be on college leaders’ radars in 2026 – Higher Ed Dive

Voices of Student Success: A Liberal Arts College Goes All In on AI (podcast) – Inside Higher Ed

Higher Education Plans for a Future Markedly Changed by A.I. - New York Times

Higher Education’s AI Problem (podcast) - NPR

How AI Is Changing Higher Education – Chronicle of Higher Ed 

Big tech companies are making the Cal State college system a training ground for A.I. tools in education. - New York Times

Can Colleges Be Run Using AI? - Chronicle of Higher Ed 

From Yale to MIT to UCLA: The AI policies of the nation's biggest colleges – Mashable

University of Georgia investing $800,000 in program providing students with AI tools – CBS News 

How AI Supports Student Mental Health in Higher Education – Ed Tech

Calcutta University plans 10% cap on AI use in PhD thesis – Millennium Post

The Accidental Winners of the War on Higher Ed – The Atlantic

The worst AI strategy in higher ed is no strategy at all – University Business

9 Podcasts about AI

Eye on AI (interviews from a longtime New York Times correspondent)

Machine Learning Guide (teaching the fundamentals of machine learning and AI)

AI in Business (for non-technical business leaders)

Data Skeptic (applies critical thinking and the scientific method to AI developments)

AI Today (practical insights)

AI for Humans (have a good time learning)

Practical AI (how to get stuff done)

The Artificial Intelligence Show (for marketers)

NVIDIA AI Podcast (interviews with people growing the AI space  from a major AI chipmaker)

Clogging the scientific publishing pipeline

Fifty-four seconds. That’s how long it took Raphael Wimmer to write up an experiment that he did not actually perform, using a new artificial-intelligence tool called Prism, released by OpenAI last month. Writing a paper has never been easier. Clogging the scientific publishing pipeline has never been easier. - Nature

The intersection of Science & AI in 18 Articles

Open-source AI program can answer science questions better than humans - Science.org

OpenClaw AI chatbots are running amok — these scientists are listening in – Nature

Today’s fraudsters can exploit the online scientific world to quickly create realistic looking papers on an industrial scale - Taylor and Francis

There's a crisis in particle physics. Researchers hope AI can help. – IEEE Spectrum

Inside OpenAI’s big play for science – MIT Tech Review

Researchers use AI to reverse engineer molecules – Semafor

Resisting AI slop in Science & Higher Ed – Science.org

2025's AI-fueled scientific breakthroughs - Axios

Where Is All the A.I.-Driven Scientific Progress? – New York Times 

The H-Index of Suspicion: How Culture, Incentives, and AI Challenge Scientific Integrity – NEJM

Machine learning helps researchers create lab-grown ‘tiny brains’ to uncover how neurons may malfunction in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder – SciTechDaily  

AI-designed viruses raise fears over creating life – Washington Post  

AI hallucinates because it’s trained to fake answers it doesn’t know - Science.org 

How ChatGPT-5 redefines scientific reproducibility – Elephant in the Lab

The chemistry community should ban drawing chemical structures with generative AI, chemists warn – Chemistry World  

Hack reveals reviewer identities for huge AI conference – Science.org

Researchers call for retraction of two recent Nature studies about AI-generated crystals – Chemical & Engineering News

Science Is Drowning in AI Slop – The Atlantic

18 AI Dangers

AI Companions - Inappropriate dependance on AI, AI control over humans, weakening of human relationships, pornography, suicides, AI delusions, mental health care, human dignity.

AI Divide - Greater inequality, the distance between those who have access to powerful AI & those who don’t.  

Bias - AI can reflect societal prejudices and stereotypes, obscuring underrepresented and marginalized populations.    

Criminals & Crime - Using AI to commit crimes such as cyberattacks, fraud and child pornography.  

Copyright – AI may be trained on copyrighted works and reproduce copyrighted material without permission. 

Deep Fakes - Cyberbullying, nonconsensual pornographic images & video.

Economics - Potential AI-created financial crisis.

Environmental Concerns - Energy consumption, high water usage, and electronic waste.

False information  - Hallucinations can lead to fearmongering, fake news, poor health advice, corrupted learning tools for children, historical misinformation, and false criminal accusations.

Human Labor – Exploitation of workers, human trafficking.

Knowledge Collapse – AI models run out of fresh data, resulting in a feedback loop — dominant ideas are amplified while less widely held or new viewpoints are minimized.

Out of Control AI - Bullying humans, taking action against humans (particularly actions outside of what the AI was designed to do), and AI uprising where bots attempt to gain control outside of human direction. 

Politics - Influencing elections, creating or magnifying international conflict.

Privacy & Security - Facial recognition false arrests, malware, social media, data on children, using AI to hack databases, steal passwords, and personal information has the potential to be shared with third parties. 

Religion - Cultlike dependence on AI, allowing outsized control, treating AI like a Magic 8 Ball, worshipping AI. 

Science - AI Slop may erode scientific progress.

Slop – Low-grade AI content can clog email, social media and the internet. Also, work slop.

Weapons & War - Drones, satellites, biological weapons.

26 Webinars this week about AI, Journalism & Media

Mon, Feb 23 - AI in Training

What: Join engaging Q&A sessions with industry experts to discover how AI can seamlessly fit into your training strategies and solve your biggest challenges. This is your chance to rethink how you approach training and position your organization at the forefront of AI-driven innovation.

Who: Stephen Weaver, Key Account Manager, isEazy; Margo Gouley, VP, Product, Box of Crayons;  Justyna Poray, Senior Learning Experience Designer, Box of Crayons; Scott Mahoney, Chief Strategy Officer, Seertech Solutions; Kelly Sieracki, Product Marketing Manager, BizLibrary; Blake Ryan, Senior Product Manager, BizLibrary.

When: 11 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Training Industry

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Mon, Feb 23 - Turning Impact Into Investment: Storytelling that Drives Funding

What: Your work makes a difference, but funders don’t always see it. In this 30-minute session, learn how to turn your impact into investments with a story funders understand and support. We’ll explore common pitfalls, show what’s possible with a clear, confident story, and share reflection questions to help you strengthen your fundraising success.

Who: Emily Taylor, teenyBIG.

When: 11 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Nonprofit Learning Lab

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Tue, Feb 24 - What Editors Want To See In Pitches

What: The series is aimed at freelance journalists who don’t have a lot of contacts in the industry and want to cold pitch an editor and get their first byline in national newspapers and magazines. 

Who: Donna Ferguson is a multiple award-winning freelance journalist for national newspapers and Head of the Freelance Chapter for Women in Journalism; Leah Harper, assistant editor on Guardian Features, previously worked as acting assistant editor on the Guardian’s Fashion desk and Features commissioning editor, having started out as a Researcher for the Observer New Review.

When: 7:30 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: £20 or £10 for members

Sponsor: Women in Journalism

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Tue, Feb 24 - Challenging the Arguments Behind Youth Social Media Bans

What: A panel discussion examining the global movement to ban social media for youth, the tradeoffs these policies present, and alternative approaches that balance safety, rights, and the realities of growing up in a digital world.

Who: Alex Ambrose, Policy Analyst, Moderator; Matthew Lesh, Country Manager, Freshwater Strategy; Angela Luna, Technology & Innovation Policy Analyst American Action Forum (AAF); Sydney Saubestre, Senior Policy Analyst, Open Technology Institute, New America; Nicol Turner Lee, Governance Studies, Director of the Center for Technology Innovation, Brookings Institution.

When: 9 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation

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Tue, Feb 24 - Double Machine Learning Causal Inference applied for weekly offer rollout

What: We applied causal inference methods to evaluate the incremental impact of weekly versus monthly offer releases, isolating their true effect on key business KPIs. The results provided statistical validation for the weekly cadence and informed its large-scale rollout at WELT.

Who: Pablo Mateos Masa, Senior Data Scientist, Axel Springer NMT; Dr. Ana Moya, Data Scientist,  INFOMOTION.

When: 9 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: World Association of News Publishers

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Tue, Feb 24 - Digital Marketing Trends in 2026

What: We will explore the key digital marketing trends in 2026. Learn what’s next in content marketing, search, AI-driven personalization, and automation so you can refine your strategy and stay ahead of the competition.

Who: Digital Marketing Strategist Ray Sidney-Smith, CEO, W-3 Consulting

When: 10 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: $45

Sponsor: Small Business Development Center, Duquesne University

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Tue, Feb 24 - Beyond the Pitch: Building Productive Relationships between Journalists and PR Professionals

What: This webinar is designed to strengthen the way religion journalists and communication professionals work together for the public good. Together, we’ll explore how thoughtful, intentional connections can lead to stronger reporting, clearer communication, and more informed audiences. Panelists will unpack common misconceptions about each other’s roles, share what makes outreach genuinely useful, and offer practical insights on building trust, setting boundaries, and creating value on both sides.

When: 11 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Religion Communicators Council

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Tue, Feb 24 - AI Data Centers & Their Climate and Community Impact

What: This discussion will equip journalists with the fundamental understanding of the economic and climate impacts stemming from AI’s vast power use, explore how to investigate data centers in their area, and highlight unique story ideas to tackle this growing issue playing out in communities across the world.

Who: Jenn Abamu, Reporter, WAMU/NPR, Marc Conte, Professor, Fordham University, Dan Gearino, Reporter, Inside Climate News, David Dickson, Covering Climate Now.

When: 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Covering Climate Now

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Tue, Feb 24 - How journalism collaboratives can raise money from small-dollar donors

What: Big-dollar grants are important for sustaining journalism collaboratives, but that doesn’t mean you should overlook success with small-dollar donors. These small donations can add up quickly and provide ongoing support for your collaborative’s work. Learn important tips for going after these donations and how to put a process in place easily and quickly.

Who: Claudia Laws, director of consumer revenue for The Times-Picayune.

When: 12 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Center for Cooperative Media

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Tue, Feb 24 - Google AI Tools For News

What: We will offer a practical overview of three powerful, free-of-cost tools designed to streamline investigative research and daily reporting workflows. Move beyond the hype and learn how to integrate NotebookLM, Gemini, and Pinpoint into your reporting toolkit to find stories faster and manage your beat more effectively.

Who: Collenn Kimmett, Google News Initiative.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: New England Newspaper & Press Association

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Tue, Feb 24 - How to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing in the New Year

What: This webinar session will get those creative juices flowing with some new writing exercises and prompts. We will also share some tips to help you move your writing project forward.

Who: Cathy Fyock is The Business Book Strategist. 

When: 1:30 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Author Learning Center

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Tue, Feb 24 - Digital Security Fundamentals for Student Journalists  

What: In this interactive session, we will highlight tools and tactics to help student journalists secure these critical systems in light of today’s increasingly complex threat environment.

Who: Trainers from Freedom of the Press Foundation.

When: 4:30 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Freedom of the Press Foundation

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Wed, Feb 25 - How to Pitch Comment Pieces

What: This session explores how to find strong angles, shape timely arguments, and establish authority without overclaiming.

Who: Hannah Fearn, The Independent’s former Comment Editor.

When: 8 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: £7.50

Sponsor: Freelancing for Journalists

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Wed, Feb 25 - Delivering AI-Ready Data: Pipelines, Agents, and Automation at Scale

What: You will learn how to overcome these challenges and equip your organization with robust data pipelines for AI solutions. Attendees will gain expert insights, practical frameworks, and a research-backed understanding of the unique challenges of data integration for AI solutions and emerging practices that successful organizations follow in delivering production applications with impact.

When: 11 am - 3:20 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Transforming Data With Intelligence

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Wed, Feb 25 - How to Maximize $10K/Month in Free Google Ads for Your Nonprofit!

What: We'll teach you everything you need to know about the Google Ad Grant and how to get started. Learn how to build and launch your own successful digital marketing campaign and get ideas from case studies with proven results. Use the power of the Google Ad Grant to amplify your message and attract a broad audience.

Who: Simon Choy is the Founder & CEO of ConnectAd.

When: 1:00 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: CharityHowTo

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Wed, Feb 25 - Recalibrating and charting a path forward after a layoff: A community support session

What: A free community session for recently laid off journalists, where we'll help you design your post-layoff strategy. You'll also have the opportunity to connect with others who have similar experiences and share industry resources to help you find your next steps.

Who: Career coach Phoebe Gavin.  

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Online News Association

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Wed, Feb 25 - Social Media Boot Camp

What: This two-day webinar series combines our Social Media 101, 102 topics, and includes more resources for you to elevate your social media presence. Attendees will receive a Social Media Boot Camp Workbook and get additional Q&A time with our experts each day.

Who: Kiersten Hill Headshot Kiersten Hill, Director of Nonprofit Solutions.

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Firespring

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Wed, Feb 25 - Building America: Powering the AI Age

What: How America can build new sources of energy and strengthen its energy security in the wake of the artificial intelligence revolution.

Who: Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.); Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.); Tammy Ma, Director of the Livemore Institute for Fusion Technology; Josh Magnuson, Ecolab; Josh Levi, Data Center Coaltion.

When: 9 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Washington Post, Ecolab

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Thu, Feb 26 - Boost your journalism curriculum: Introduction to Media Helping Media

What: We now have access to 400 free training resources for journalists working at all levels, produced by Media Helping Media. We will demonstrate how to download, adapt and use them.

Who: David Brewer, founder and editor of Media Helping Media.

When: 11 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Fojo Media Institute, Linnaeus University, Sweden

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Thu, Feb 26 - Poynter Beat Academy: The midterms, data and America’s safety net

What: Get localized story ideas that explore where data makes a difference and boost your midterm coverage.  

Who: Former U.S. chief data scientist Denice Ross; Colleen Heflin, professor of Public Administration at Syracuse University; Paul Overberg, reporter for The Wall Street Journal’s data team; Elvia Malagón, a health reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Poynter Beat Academy

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Thu, Feb 26 - Automation vs. AI Agents: An Execution Framework for Enterprises

What: We will break down how enterprises can design automation and agent systems that scale without creating chaos. 

Who: Eugina Jordan, CEO and Founder of YOUnifiedAI.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Techtarget

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Thu, Feb 26 - Harnessing AI as a Collaborative Partner for Ethical Research & Writing

What: This session will cover practical approaches to the responsible use of AI as a tool for writing and research.

Who: University of Michigan librarian Yulia Sevrygina; University of Kentucky librarian Helen Bischoff.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Springer Nature

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Fri, Feb 27 - International Public Records

What: FOIA Friday is a community session to connect about all things FOIA and public records. This month, we will be focusing on international public records.

When: 1 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: MuckRock

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Fri, Feb 27 - Crafting Effective AI Prompts: Techniques for Quality Responses

What: This webinar introduces the principles of crafting prompts that produce reliable and high-quality AI outputs. Participants will explore prompt structures, context-setting techniques, and common pitfalls to avoid. Real examples and guided practice will help attendees refine their prompting skills across a range of tasks. By the end, learners will be able to design prompts that consistently yield useful results.

When: 5 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Claremont Graduate University

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Fri, Feb 27 - ASERL Copyright Office Hour

What: Please bring your puzzling and perplexing copyright questions.  Your ASERL colleagues are here to help!

When: 3 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Association of Southeastern Research Libraries

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Fri, Feb 27 - Introduction to Codex

What: Join us for a beginner friendly, high-level overview of Codex — the AI system that powers code generation. We’ll explain what Codex is, explore examples of how people are using it for real work and everyday tasks, and show how non-technical professionals can benefit from it today. Whether you’re curious about the future of AI and software, want to better collaborate with technical teams, or simply want to understand the possibilities, this webinar is your starting point. No coding experience needed!

Who: Derrick Choi Codex Deployment Engineer, OpenAI.

When: 3 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: OpenAI Academy

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AI Health Advice

A new study found that AI "health advice from was frequently wrong. However, a closer look at the results tell a different story. "About half the time, mistakes appeared to be the result of user error. Participants didn’t enter enough information or the most relevant symptoms. By contrast, when researchers entered the full medical scenario directly into the chatbots, they correctly diagnosed the problem 94 percent of the time." -New York Times

Using AI to Write an Apology to the Court

A judge in New Zealand questioned the remorse of a defendant who had used A.I. to write apologies to victims and the court. Increasingly, people are outsourcing many tasks to machines, including writing apologies, eulogies and wedding vows, perhaps saving precious time but also inviting the ire of some of their fellow humans. People apparently believe that certain activities should take work in order to seem genuine. -New York Times

12 Articles about AI & Robotics

To Stay in Her Home, She Let In an A.I. Robot – New York Times

Chinese Robots Can Now Run Up Walls - Futurism

AI-powered "RoboCops" take up traffic duties in Chinese cities – People’s Daily 

The Way Boston Dynamics’ New Robot Moves Is Skin-Crawlingly Unnatural - Futurism 

China dials back robocar ambitions after deadly crash – Semafor

Robot smaller than grain of salt can ‘sense, think and act’ – Washington Post

Robotic dogs with human heads - CNN 

Robots and AI Are Already Remaking the Chinese Economy – Wall Street Journal

Robots in your bloodstream could deliver drugs with greater precision - Washington Post 

Two Harvard alums built a robot that can braid hair – The Hustle  

China’s Alibaba launches AI model to power robots as tech giants talk up ‘physical AI’ – CNBC

Indian university faces backlash for claiming Chinese robodog as own at AI summit - BBC

12 Recent Articles about AI & Audio/Video

AI Will Bring Val Kilmer Back To Life For a New Aventure Film – Geek Tyrant 

Why an A.I. Video of Tom Cruise Battling Brad Pitt Spooked Hollywood – New York Times

Radio host David Greene says Google’s AI podcast tool stole his voice - The Washington Post

AI-generated political videos are more about memes and money than persuading and deceiving – The Conversation  

AI Is Democratizing Music. Unfortunately. – The Atlantic  

A Googler explains how to “meta prompt” for incredible Veo videos – Google

Real vs. AI: Your Deepfake Spotter's Guide for AI-Generated Videos – Cnet

A.I. Videos Have Flooded Social Media. No One Was Ready - New York Times 

Inside the Creation of Tilly Norwood, the AI Actress Freaking Out Hollywood – Wall Street Journal  

Restaurant owner speaks out following AI-generated video – NBC Dallas

No Time to Read a Long Google Doc? Try Gemini's Quick AI Audio Summaries – PC Mag

Google Docs now has AI-generated audio summaries - Neowin

“I made a mistake”

Though agentic tools often excel at complicated work, such as synthesizing unfathomable reams of text, they struggle to do something as simple as copy and paste text from Google Docs into Substack. And because they are so powerful, they can also be dangerous: When one venture capitalist recently asked Claude Cowork—Anthropic’s new, more accessible agentic tool—for help organizing his wife’s desktop, the bot subsequently deleted 15 years of family photos. “I need to stop and be honest with you about something important,” the bot told him. “I made a mistake.” -The Atlantic