I have some friends who are trying to convert a PDF publication to a digital mark-up language. Yes, I know, we’ve been doing this for decades, and it’s somewhat amazing there isn’t a simple, clean solution yet. My friends want to use AI, which reminds me of the old saying, “When the only tool you…
Summary: A CEO needs a regular report on a small set of indicators that tells him whether the basic machinery of the business is functioning. Here are some guidelines for creating that report. Years ago I had lunch with a former colleague who told me a sad tale of a publishing company that neglected to…
Bo Sacks distributed an article about the New York Times using AI summaries, which triggered the following thoughts. (Link at the end of this article.) Suppose I’m a New York Times subscriber who’s wondering why inflation rose after COVID. Here are four possible experiences. I type my query into Google search and get links, which…
Part 273 in Greg’s “identifying bullshit” series. Data constrains strategies, it doesn’t create them. Before you have any data you have to have a goal. Did the Wright Brothers study data on birds, or weather, or aerodynamics, and then come up with an airplane? Of course not. They started with “I want to fly” and…
Tip: AI doesn’t eliminate the need to know how things work. It increases the value of knowing why they work. I ran into a problem this week with an email that was sent with a bad link. To fix it I needed to create a redirect, but not a simple redirect. This particular link relied…
What will publishing look like in the Age of AI? Let’s examine that. TikTok “gets you” fast. At least that’s what I’m told. I don’t use it. It’s not doing magic or reading your mind. It’s curating based on your actions. But curation always has a goal. TikTok’s goal is to capture your attention. It…
Summary: Modern business culture — epitomized by LinkedIn’s obsession with “actionable takeaways” — discourages people from raising important warnings unless they already have a solution, even though recognizing problems and solving them are often different skills. Organizations, including publishers, make better decisions when they value unresolved warnings because they recruit other minds to understand and…
Summary: If AI becomes a superintelligent pattern seeker, it may infer values or organizing narratives from the data it has absorbed – that no human has considered. If humans ever create AI superintelligence, what would happen? Most people who’ve given the question any serious thought say nothing good, with a very small chance of something…
Summary: Gamification and engagement metrics can be useful, but they become dangerous when publishers mistake measurable activity — clicks, comments, time on site — for the deeper goal those metrics are supposed to serve. The real objective isn’t to get people to rack up more interactions; it’s to attract the right audience, serve them well…
Thesis: We’re moving towards a publishing market where AI content monetized by ads is going to dominate. How will publishers survive? Short answer: many won’t. I know that this idea upsets a lot of people for a lot of reasons, but here’s why it’s going to happen. Value. Cheap Sells Publishers argue that their content…
We all know stories about CEOs who swoop in with a pile of ridiculous ideas, stir up the sediment that had just finished settling since the last tumultuous visit, cause lots of anxiety among the people who do the actual work, and then complain that their unworkable strategy isn’t getting done. I have a different…
Two men went to Mass one Sunday. One spent his time internally criticizing the songs, the sermon, and the liturgy. The other allowed the songs, the sermon, and the liturgy to criticize him. The first man wanted to tweet about his experience to show how discerning and wise he was. The second man reflected on…
One of the things I’ve learned as an amateur fiction writer is that there’s a type of character arc in the creative process that most people don’t know about. It’s a strange type of character development. When you start writing a story, you have an idea about your main character. She’s single, about 30. She’s…
Summary: The Salt Lake Tribune has removed its paywall, converted subscriptions to memberships, and is betting that more readers will support local journalism as a public good if everyone can access it for free. The nonprofit newspaper hopes increased readership, donations, memberships, and advertising revenue will offset the loss of subscription income while strengthening its…
With the pope quoting Gandalf in an encyclical about AI, the obvious question is “How is AI like the one ring?” There are some trivial comparisons. It makes the user invisible. It requires a lot of energy to make it. It uses a mysterious technology. Its creators pour some of themselves into it. The bigger…