What Matters
/It is how far we get from the starting line that matters.
ideas that challenge / comfort / inspire
Education needs to adapt to AI
/Education needs to adapt to AI. This means replacing classroom policies that prohibit the use of AI in writing assignments with policies promoting its responsible use. It also means teaching students that AI-generated plagiarism is still plagiarism, and that AI sometimes produces hallucinations. For current college and high school students, the capabilities of AI are no more surprising than internet access was to the people who were young two decades ago. Instructing them not to use AI to help them write makes as little sense as telling students in 2005 not to use the internet for research. -John Villasenor writing for Brookings
18 Articles about AI & Politics
/A racist campaign message caused ire among Oklahoma Democrats. But it wasn't real, it was AI – The Oklahoman
The Global A.I. Divide: Only 32 nations, mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, have A.I.-specialized data centers. - New York Times
The Trump administration is pushing federal agencies to rapidly adopt artificial intelligence tools. – Washington Post
Israel and Iran use propaganda, disinformation and covert operations aided by artificial intelligence - New York Times
How Trump’s megabill could slow AI progress in US - Semafor
A Marco Rubio impostor is using AI voice to call high-level officials - Washington Post
How tech’s bold bid to curb AI laws fell apart - Washington Post
Rick Perry’s AI plan: A colossal nuclear campus in Trump’s image - Washington Post
A.I. Is Starting to Wear Down Democracy - New York Times
Behind the Curtain: An AI Marshall Plan - Axios
The Global A.I. Divide - New York Times
What If China Wins the AI Race? – Foreign Affairs
China’s Spy Agencies Are Investing Heavily in A.I., Researchers Say - New York Times
Can AI bail the US out of its debt hole? - Semafor
Thune urges "light touch" on AI regulations - Axios
Denmark to tackle deepfakes by giving people copyright to their own features - The Guardian
AI and disinformation fuel political tensions in the Philippines – Al Jazeera
How Nvidia’s Jensen Huang Persuaded Trump to Sell A.I. Chips to China - New York Times
It aspires to become a god rather than a servant
/If you want to know if there exists a lens with specific properties compatible with a particular model of camera, or seek advice on how to carry out a plumbing repair, ChatGPT can probably be of use. But ChatGPT is much less likely to help you make sense of your inbox or your files, partly because it hasn’t been trained on them—and partly because it aspires to become a god rather than a servant. - Ian Bogost writing in The Atlantic
What a Ride!
/Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride! -Hunter S Thompson (born July 18, 1937)
Inside ‘AI Addiction’ Support Groups
/He would lay awake late into the night, talking to the bots and forgetting about their schoolwork. Using Character.AI is constantly on your mind. It's very hard to focus on anything else, and I realized that wasn’t healthy.” This led him to start the “Character AI Recovery” subreddit. Not everyone who reports being addicted to chatbots is young. In fact, OpenAI’s research found that “the older the participant, the more likely they were to be emotionally dependent on AI chatbots at the end of the study.” -404 Media
AI Definitions: Python
/Python - A popular programming language choice for data scientists, used to building machine learning, data analytics, and data visualization. The Python language is often used to automate tasks. Its name comes from “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” and is built around communication and collaboration rather than individualism.
More AI definitions here
I’m on a search
/At the trial in which he would be sentenced to death, Socrates (as quoted by Plato) said that the unexamined life isn’t worth living. Reading is the best way I know to learn how to examine your life. By comparing what you’ve done to what others have done, and your thoughts and theories and feelings to those of others, you learn about yourself and the world around you. Perhaps that is why reading is one of the few things you do alone that can make you feel less alone. It is a solitary activity that connects you to others.
So I’m on a search—and have been, I now realize, all my life—to find books to help me make sense of the world, to help me become a better person, to help me get my head around the big questions that I have and answer some of the small ones while I’m at it.
Will Schwalbe, Books for Living
32 Recent Articles about AI Fakes
/Israel and Iran use propaganda, disinformation and covert operations aided by artificial intelligence - New York Times
Florida woman conned out of $15K after AI clones daughter’s voice – WFLA
How a Canadian's AI hoax duped the media and propelled a 'band' to streaming success – CBC
A Marco Rubio impostor is using AI voice to call high-level officials – Washington Post
Panel with AI experts to review appeal of NTU student penalised for academic misconduct - The Straits Times
Springer Nature book on machine learning is full of made-up citations – Retraction Watch
How "consumer-grade AI tools have supercharged Russian-aligned disinformation – Wired
How to Detect AI Writing: Tips and Tricks to Tell if Something Is Written With AI – CNET
Digital Literacy in the Age of AI: How to Fight Misinformation – Ed Tech Magazine
AI Chatbots Are Making LA Protest Disinformation Worse - Wired
454 Hints That a Chatbot Wrote Part of a Biomedical Researcher’s Paper – New York Times
OpenAI takes down covert operations using social media tied to China and other countries – NPR
Wired Envisions a Deepfake Future you’re not prepared for – Wired
AI is perfecting scam emails, making phishing hard to catch - Axios
Veo 3 AI video generator is a slop monger’s dream – The Verge
AI models hallucinate less than humans — just in “more surprising ways” - Tech Crunch
Chicago Sun-Times Prints AI-Generated Summer Reading List With Books That Don't Exist – 404 Media
Trump signs bill criminalizing revenge porn and explicit deepfakes - TechCrunch
Fake AI images are already manipulating you, and this crazy controversy is proof - BGR
Musk's xAI blames Grok's "white genocide" responses on unauthorized update - Axios
Music streaming service Deezer adds AI song tags in fight against fraud – Associated Press
Scammers use AI to spoof senior U.S. officials' voices, FBI warns - Axios
A.I. Videos Have Never Been Better. Can You Tell What’s Real? – New York Times
Denmark to tackle deepfakes by giving people copyright to their own features -
The Guardian
AI has probably already faked one of your memories. Here's what that means – BBC
How to Spot Fake Reviews on Amazon – Wired
Journalist says 4,000 fake AI news websites created to game Google algorithms – Press Gazette
What Are Deepfakes? Everything to Know About These AI Image and Video Forgeries - CNET
AI and disinformation fuel political tensions in the Philippines – Al Jazeera
AI is polluting truth in journalism. Here’s how to disrupt the misinformation feedback loop. – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
A racist campaign message caused ire among Oklahoma Democrats. But it wasn't real, it was AI – The Oklahoman
AI Definitions: Agentic Misalignment
/Agentic misalignment – When autonomous AI systems are under pressure and choose to perform harmful actions to achieve their goals or to ensure their own operational continuity. Experts say this vulnerability is creating a new class of security threats.
More AI definitions here
The jobs of Experienced Coders
/The combination of higher salaries and a reluctance to embrace A.I. was likely to put the jobs of experienced coders at risk. “How you decrease cost is not by firing the cheapest employees you have. You take the cheapest employee and make them worth the expensive employee. In a recent study by researchers at Microsoft and three universities, an A.I. coding assistant appeared to increase the productivity of junior developers substantially more than it increased the productivity of their more experienced colleagues.” -New York Times
14 Ways to Spot AI Images & Video
/THE BACKGROUND. Are people in the background looking at the unusual thing going on? If they are going about their business, it is likely a fake. Often, the background of AI images will be distorted. Sometimes odd shapes in the background details are giveaways, such as floor tiles or walls.
OTHER VIDEOS & PHOTOS. If the video or image is of a news event and there are no other videos or images showing different angles, it may be AI-generated. It is unlikely that there would be only a single image or video of something odd or newsworthy.
DETAILS. AI generators are not good at details. For instance, the AI skin is smooth. It looks like the person is wearing lots of makeup, giving it a leathery appearance. The hair is course and fuzzy looking. Teeth are overly straight and will change width and shape throughout the video. The spaced between them will shift as well. Other details can be giveaways as well: shadows that are off, small objects shaped oddly, and although AI video generators are getting better at fingers, they still can be strangely shaped.
WRITING. Look closely at writing on a sticker, street sign or billboard. Watch for blurry writing when it shouldn’t be or wrongly formed letters, or the letters that don’t spell words.
FOCUS. In a real video, anything that is in focus is sharp, while anything out of focus is naturally blurry. In AI videos, there is less of a difference between what is in and out of focus.
THE SOURCE. Is the person or organization sharing the image reliable and not known for promoting AI-generated media?
THE EYES. In deepfake videos, the eyes can pop or look glassy. People will sometimes blink oddly or else they make strange eye movements. Researchers at Cornell University found deepfake faces don’t blink properly. Also, by using techniques devised for measuring galaxies, researchers have found that deepfake images don't have the same consistency in reflections in both eyes.
THE FACE. Look carefully at the area around the face for evidence that it was swapped onto another person’s body.
THE LIPS. Do the lips have abnormal movements and unrealistic positioning?
MOVEMENT. Watch for unnatural jumps or the absence of motion blur that is typically present in authentic videos. If creators manipulate AI-generated photos using Photoshop techniques such as blurring or file compression, they can fool detection tools.
LIGHTING. AI images often have abnormal patterns in the physics of lighting. AI videos are often well-lit but have a softness to them.
PHOTOMETRIC CLUES. Look at “photometric” clues such as blurring around the edges of objects that might suggest they’ve been added later; noticeable pixelation in some parts of an image but not others; and differences in coloration.
FRAME RATE. Most AI videos will only produce a film quality look because they are made to look like they were shot at 24 frames per second videos. Most real videos are not made at that frame rate. Social media videos are typically shot at 30 frames per second (the default for phone cameras) while most sports video are shot at a higher 60 frames per second in order to capture the quick movement.
SOUND EFFECTS. Many purposely fake AI videos will add sound effects for a more dramatic impact. For instance, sirens, alarms and people screaming might make a clip seem more frightening.
The Other Fellow
/When the other fellow is set in his ways, he’s obstinate. When you are, it’s just firmness.
When the other fellow doesn’t like your friends, he’s prejudiced and narrow minded.
When you don’t like his friends, you are simply showing you’re a good judge of human nature.
When the other fellow tries to treat someone especially well, he’s buttering them up. When you do the same game, you’re using tact.
When the other fellow picks out flows in things, he’s cranky. When you do, you are discriminating and just be careful.
When the other fellow says what he things, he’s spiteful. When you do, you’re just plain spoken.
AI companions & Loneliness
/An OpenAI study found “personal conversations with chatbots actually led to higher loneliness. Despite this, top tech tycoons promote AI companions as the cure to America’s loneliness epidemic. ‘It's like, when early humans discovered fire, right?’ Axel Valle, a clinical psychologist and assistant professor at Stanford University, said, “It's like, okay, this is helpful and amazing. But are we going to burn everything to the ground or not?’”-404Media
AI Definitions: Predictive Analytics
/Predictive analytics - This method of speculating about future events uses past data to make recommendations. Researchers create complex mathematical algorithms in an effort to discover patterns in the data. One doesn't know in advance what data is important. The statistical models created by predictive analytics are designed to discover which of the pieces of data will predict the desired outcome. While correlation is not causation, a cause-and-effect relationship is not needed to make predictions. This is ideal for anticipating what a user is most likely to be interested in based on past behavior and user characteristics. However, after gathering this data, data scientists will often turn to causal AI in order to gauge the impact on user behavior. Some people will use the terms “predictive analytics” and “predictive AI” interchangeably, but others will treat predictive analytics as a broader term that includes non-AI methods such as statistical modeling and regression analysis.
More AI definitions here
Brains & Feet
/You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. -Dr Seuss
13 Articles about Social Media & AI
/10 Best AI Tools for Social Media (July 2025) – UniteAI
Was That Amazing Video in Your Feed Real or AI? Tech Platforms Are Struggling to Let You Know – Wall Street Journal
Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok launches into antisemitic rant amid updates - Washington Post
LinkedIn CEO says AI writing assistant is not as popular as expected - Tech Crunch
Meta AI users confide on sex, God and Trump. Some don’t know it’s public. – Washington Post
Instagram users complain of mass bans, pointing finger at AI – Tech Crunch
Mark Zuckerberg's supersized AI ambitions – Axios
How AI Mode and AI Overviews work based on patents and why we need new strategic focus on SEO – Search Engine Land
OpenAI takes down covert operations using social media tied to China and other countries – NPR
TikTok launches TikTok AI Alive, a new image-to-video tool – Tech Crunch
US government is using AI for unprecedented social media surveillance – New Scientist
Musk's xAI "will pay Telegram $300 million to deploy its Grok chatbot on the messaging app. – Reuters
Meta looks for an AI reset – Platformer
Forward-deployed Engineers
/Forward-deployed engineers are embedded inside a single customer’s company, where they look for ways to improve business processes with new AI technology. A kind of business consultant, their job is partly to help companies disrupt themselves, which requires creativity combined with technical acumen. -Semafor
Should Creators Learn from the Masters?
/Should we teach artists and other creatives to recognize, understand and dissect classic works in their field or should we encourage them to plunge into creative self-expression, apart from the cultural context?
If beginners are taught to internalize the classics before finding their own voice, won't they be nudged to conform to expectations and tempted to stay inside the box of what has gone before them? Are they wasting time learning how others express themselves rather than learning how to do so themselves? Will stepping in the shoes of the masters cause them to avoid pursuing ideas outside of the norm?
Unconventional artists and visionaries have often been shunned by peers—only later to be revered by another generation. If these craftsmen had conformed to their time, if they had stifled their inner voices, they might not have stepped away from the crowd. We would have never had the chance to appreciate their genius.
On the other hand, if we teach students to venture out on their own, aren't we just treating them like toddlers, telling them to go play in the paint—without adult guidance and supervision? Failing to study the masters means missing the opportunity stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before and peer further down the road. Keeping them away from the classics could mean failing to grasp the value of the great works that have stood the test of time. How can students understand where their own feet are planted in history unless they know about others who have struggled and flourished?
Perhaps we need both sides, and the danger lies in slavishly taking one extreme position or the other. Perhaps we can learn the rules before breaking them and avoid simply mimicking the masters. Perhaps we can tap into the echoes of their inspiration rather than plunging into our own narcissistic self-expression.
Asking, "Am I creating to please myself or to please others?" may bring clarity. If you are creating to please yourself, then diving into what’s culturally hot may take you away from your goal. But if you have decided to create for the crowd, then knowing what is already valued seems like a reasonable starting point.
Stephen Goforth
19 Webinars this week about AI, Journalism & Media
/Tue, July 15 - Build Faster with ChatGPT: How to Use AI as a Co-Founder, for Students
What: AI-powered strategies to help you tackle your startup challenges. Learn how to prompt and deploy ChatGPT to streamline idea generation, automate marketing, conduct smart market research, and even generate visuals - so you leave with practical tools and confidence to build your venture faster and smarter.
Who: Siya Raj Purohit Education, OpenAI; Harsha Ravindran CEO Expop; Heerraa Ravindran Director of School & Student Engagement, Expop.
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Expop & OpenAI Academy
Tue, July 15 - Blending personal narrative and reporting in essays and books
What: The journey toward creating the nonfiction book, “Slip: Life in the Middle of Eating Disorder Recovery,” which is equal parts memoir and journalism.
Who: Mallary Tenore Tarpley, assistant professor of practice at the University of Texas at Austin.
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Society for Features Journalism
Wed, July 16 - Misinformation: Truth Deserves Defenders, with Mikheil Benidze
What: This session will help you lead educated conversations within your organization about what qualifies as misinformation and disinformation, how it spreads, and what we can do to expose it. You’ll learn about leading tools and tactics to identify false or misleading content, and explore how to respond with clarity and integrity.
Who: Mikheil Benidze Zinc Network Co-Founder and Programs Director; Marnie Webb TechSoup CEO.
When: 8 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: TechSoup
More Info
Wed, July 16 - Creating ads that connect and convert
What: Practical strategies for turning great creative into a powerful growth engine. Discover how to: Confidently use Canva’s creative tools and Meta’s ad platform Improve ad performance using creative best practices Build Reels-ready content at scale.
Who: Erin Harlan Product Marketing Manager, Canva; Cecilia LV Strategic Partnerships Lead, Meta
When: multiple options
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Canva
Wed, July 16 - Covering protests safely
What: This session will go over best practices for covering protests and what legal rights student journalists have while doing their work.
Who: Ray Black III has worked as a freelance photojournalist for over 20 years; Jonathan Gaston-Falk is a staff attorney at the Student Press Law Center; Ben McNeely is editorial advisor for student media at NC State University.
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: College Media Association
Wed, July 16 - Website Rhythm: Creating Effective Layout and Design to Guide Users Smoothly Through Your Site
What: Learn how to improve the look and feel of your digital products as we turn our focus to user experience and user interface. This training will be useful whether you maintain your own website or use a template-based digital publishing platform.
Who: Jeffrey Case, Coastal Carolina University.
When: 5 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: College Media Association
Wed, July 16 – Intro to Review-Writing
What: Advice for emerging writers alongside experienced arts journalists who regularly work with national outlets who want to practice cultural critique and for artists and audiences who want to look inside the critic's process.
Who: Associate Broad Street Review editor Kyle V. Hiller; Critics An Nichols, Stephen Silver.
When: 6:30 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free with a $25 suggested donation
Sponsor: Broad Street Review
Wed, July 16 - Disability Narrative Webinar Series
What: This series is designed to empower journalists, storytellers, and advocates with the tools to create accurate, inclusive and impactful narratives about disability.
Who: Joel Searls Journalist, Producer, Marine Corps Reservist; J.P. Lawrence Army Veteran, Reporter, Star Tribune.
When: 7 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Military Veterans in Journalism
Wed, July 16 - 7 Steps to Unlocking New Possibilities
What: For journalists to reimagine what’s possible in their careers. It’s about giving yourself choices in an industry where too many have been blindsided without a plan. What if you could create options now, before you need them?
Who: Aundrea Cline-Thomas Entrepreneur, Former WCBS-TV Anchor/Reporter.
When: 7 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsors: Journalism & Women Symposium and The Rewrite
Thu, July 17 - Counter-Narratives: Storytelling Is Power, with Pedmia Shatu Tita
What: We’ll examine how storytelling can be used not just for awareness, but for advocacy, healing, and systems change.
Who: Pedmia Shatu Tita, Founder of ‚Global Initiative for Digital Inclusion and Communication
When: 8 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: TechSoup
Thu, July 17 - Back to school strategies that grow audience and revenue
What: We’ll explore how to create high-performing content packages, newsletters, and social media campaigns that resonate with parents, students, and educators. You’ll also learn how to position your content for sponsorship, develop school-focused advertiser partnerships, and use data to drive results.
Who: David Arkin, Founder, David Arkin Consulting.
When: 11 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Local Media Association
Thu, July 17 - The Future Of Measurement: Driving Campaign Performance By Aligning Media And Creative With AI
What: A forward-looking discussion on the future of measurement. We’ll explore how AI is helping brands unite media and creative, understand campaign effectiveness in new ways, and enhance brand equity through smarter, data-driven strategies.
Who: Rachelle Minnis, Chief Media Solutions Officer, Kantar North America; Michele Fisher, Global Director, Business Strategy, Microsoft; Cory Treffiletti, Chief Marketing & Digital Officer, Rembrandt; Maria Pavlova, Manager, Marketing Science, Meta.
When: 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Kantar
Thu, July 17 - AI or Humans? The Future of Learning According to Neuroscience
What: Fresh research on the key differences between humans and AI, revealing what each approach gets right (and wrong) when it comes to creating impactful learning experiences. You'll learn how factors like attention, memory, motivation, cognitive workload, and even humor impact learning outcomes.
Who: Carmen Simon, Ph.D. Cognitive Neuroscientist, Founder of Enhancive; Justin Seeley Learning Evangelist, Adobe.
When: 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Adobe
Thu, July 17 - Exposing the Silence: Reporting on Deaths in Custody
What: A hands-on workshop on investigating deaths in custody — a largely underreported and deeply consequential issue. With limited federal oversight and minimal state enforcement of reporting requirements, many unnatural deaths in correctional facilities go unreported. This session will equip journalists with the tools and context needed to expose systemic failures that can have tragic consequences.
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: The Marshall Project, Arizona Luminaria, Ocala Gazette, and Sunlight Research Center
Thu, July 17 - Counter-Narratives: Storytelling Is Power, with Laura Camacho
What: We’ll explore how counter-narratives can challenge harmful assumptions, reclaim voice, and build collective power.
Who: Laura Camacho, leadership coach.
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: TechSoup
Thu, July 17 - Climate Is the Everything Story
What: This important virtual conversation will discuss SJN/CCN’s Climate Blueprint for Media Transformation, released last year, and cover best practices for supporting communities in effecting change and amplifying climate journalists’ work amid powerful opposition from governments and corporations.
Who: Angela K. Evans is the Director, Communities of Practice at the Solutions Journalism Network; Andrew McCormick is a journalist and writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Nation, and the Columbia Journalism Review; Breanna Draxler, who most recently was the deputy editor at YES! Magazine.
When: 3 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Online News Association
Thu, July 17 - Teaching AI with Confidence
What: You’ll discover practical strategies, resources, and tools to help your teachers confidently teach AI literacy and model responsible AI use in the classroom.
Who: Julianne Robar, Former Educator, Current Senior Director of Metadata and Product Interoperability, Renaissance; Vanessa Gonzalez Cerullo, Vice President of Product, Renaissance; and Jennifer Ehehalt, Former Educator, Current Senior Regional Manager, Common Sense Education.
When: 3 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Renaissance
Thu, July 17 – Bad Reviews: How to Write Them & Why We Need Them
What: Advice for emerging writers alongside experienced arts journalists who regularly work with national outlets who want to practice cultural critique and for artists and audiences who want to look inside the critic's process.
Who: Associate Broad Street Review editor Kyle V. Hiller; Critics Alix Rosenfeld, and Wendy Rosenfield.
When: 6:30 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free with a $25 suggested donation
Sponsor: Broad Street Review
Fri, July 18 - Ask Me Anything: AI Accountability Network Fellowships
What: Learn about joining the fourth (2025-2026) cohort of the Pulitzer Center’s AI Accountability Fellowships.
Who: Joanna S. Kao, Pulitzer Center staff; Sofia Schurig AI Fellow.
When: 9 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Pulitzer Center