Observing
/You see, but you do not observe. -Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, born May 22, 1859)
AI definitions: Workslop
/Workslop - AI-generated content that masquerades as good work, but lacks substance and does not meaningfully advance a given task. The overwritten language includes unnecessarily long words and empty phrases, similar to student submissions focused on meeting a length requirement rather than making every sentence and bullet point push the ball forward.
An AI Overconfidence Fix
/Researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have now traced AI overconfidence to a specific flaw in how models are trained, and developed a method that fixes it without giving up any accuracy. The technique, called RLCR (Reinforcement Learning with Calibration Rewards), trains language models to produce calibrated confidence estimates alongside their answers. -MIT
Assets & Liabilities
/Buy assets, not liabilities. People are either liabilities or assets.
15 Articles about Career Anxiety
/Coming to Terms with the Unknown
Work ‘Doomjobbing’ can hurt your job search
Experts share 5 ways to come out of a job interview rejection feeling like a winner
Here’s how to talk yourself down when you’re about to rage quit
How To Conquer Job Market Fears—And Find Your Next Role
How to Job Hunt (When You’re Already Exhausted)
Losing Your Job Can Be a Mental Health Crisis. Here’s How to Cope.
Managing Layoff Stress and Mental Health: Essential Coping Strategies for Job Loss
A Profession Is Not a Personality
It's Hard to Know What's Happening to Our Data
/If it is indeed possible for LLM agents to build detailed profiles of large numbers of individuals using bulk data, companies could use those capabilities to investigate job applicants or determine whether someone is insurable. “It is very, very hard to hold to account companies that are doing whatever they want to with our data,” Karen Levy, a professor of information science at Cornell University says. “It’s hard to even know what’s happening.” -MIT Tech Review
Clever and Pleasant
/"My mother used to say to me, 'Elwood' -- she always called me Elwood — 'Elwood, in this world you must be oh-so clever, or oh-so pleasant.' For years I was clever. I'd recommend pleasant — and you may quote me." –Jimmy Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd in HARVEY (born May 20, 1908)
21 Articles about AI & Data Privacy
/A.I. and Humans Battle It Out in a Cybersecurity Showdown - New York Times
AI is making it very easy for the government to spy on you. Some lawmakers are worried. – NBC News
AI license plate cameras tore this town apart and led to a state of emergency – Washington Post
Deepfakes Are Coming for Your Bank Account OpenAI made the perfect tool for scammers. – The Atlantic
Domestic Surveillance Is Expanding With New, AI-Powered Tools – Wall Street Journal
Your Passwords Are Probably Screwed – New York Times
Will AI end anonymity? I tested it. – Washington Post
AI and Data Privacy in Investigations: What Legal Teams Need to Know - JD Supra
5 AI Models Tried to Scam Me. Some of Them Were Scary Good - Wired
Using AI for financial advice? Keep these 5 things out of your chats. - The Washington Post
Why Agentic AI Is Security's Next Blind Spot – The Hacker News
How LLMs could supercharge mass surveillance in the US – MIT Tech Review
A secretive AI hacking system has sparked a global scramble – Washington Post
Your Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses recordings aren't private – Mashable
AI's big biosecurity blind spot - Axios
How AI and social media sites are still collecting kids’ data despite privacy laws – Techincal.ly
People Are Uploading Their Medical Records to A.I. Chatbots – New York Times
Military experts warn security hole in most AI chatbots can sow chaos – Defense News
ChatGPT’s year-end review knows way too much. How to fix your privacy settings. – Washington Post
How Rules for Publicly Available Data Are Shaping the Future of AI – Data Innovation
A.I. Chatbots Want Your Health Records. Tread Carefully. – New York Times
AI adoption Strategies
/Apply behavioral architecture to AI adoption, shifting the focus from data governance, which feels like a set of restrictive rules, to data democratization, which feels like power. Give stakeholders ownership through automated quality tools and intuitive interfaces. -Andrew Hallinson in CIO
14 Articles about AI & Job Searches
/5 R&D jobs that may be lost to AI and 5 that it could create - R&D World
5 ways job seekers can improve their AI literacy - Washington Post
AI and ‘recession-proof’ jobs: 4 tips for new job seekers - PBS
AI Broke Interviews – Yusuf Aytas
The AI question every job candidate on interview should be prepared to answer – CNBC
Employers are demanding AI skills. What's the best way to learn them? - CBS News
Entry-level jobs calling for AI skills nearly doubled from a year ago, says report - CNBC
Job Hunting Is A Trap. Use This ChatGPT Strategy Instead - Forbes
Job Seekers Find a New Source of Income: Training AI to Do Their Old Roles - Wall Street Journal
A new sign that AI is competing with college grads – The Atlantic
People are Using AI to Cheat in Job Interviews - The Atlantic
Recruiters Use A.I. to Scan Résumés. Applicants Are Trying to Trick It. – New York Times
Turning Your Resume into an Interactive AI Chatbot Using ChainLit & Semantic Kernel - Medium
What Is Gen Z Supposed to Do When AI Takes Entry-Level Jobs? - New York Magazine
Sadness is a wall
/Sadness is a wall between two gardens. -Kahlil Gibran
AI definitions: Sentiment Analysis
/Sentiment Analysis (also known as opinion mining or emotion artificial intelligence) – A tool that uses natural language processing techniques to collect and analyze the tone behind how people interact online with a brand. It attempts to get past numbers (mentions, comments, etc.) to extract subjective qualities from data—including attitudes, emotions, sarcasm, confusion or suspicion. Sentiment analysis makes use of data mining, machine learning, artificial intelligence and computational linguistics to arrive at actionable insights.
Mass Surveillance by the Government
/The government can’t look at the location information on your phone without a warrant, but if a dataset that the government has purchased contains your phone’s location data, and the government is able to link it to you, then it can effectively perform an end run around the Fourth Amendment. The advantage of using LLMs for mass surveillance is that they can do far more work than human analysts far more quickly, but that also makes thoroughly checking their work impossible. -MIT Tech Review
Rising
/Rising above the fray is a grown up thing to do.
24 Webinars this week about AI, Journalism & Media
/Mon, May 18 - Global Media, Local Voices: The Dynamics of Diversity
What: Addressing the challenge for researchers and journalists of how to bridge the gap between the better aspects of the putative golden age and the realities of today and to do so from a perspective that is not rooted in Anglo conventions, anxieties, and shibboleths.
Who: Toby Miller, Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico; Sharon Coen, School of Health and Society, Media Psychology Team, The University of Salford, UK; Stina Bengtsson, Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden; Lusófona University, Portugal; Emiliano Treré, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Cardiff University, UK; Cristina Pulido Rodríguez Department of Journalism and Communication Sciences, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain.
When: 10 am – 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsors: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, Journalism and Media journal
Tue, May 19 - Artificial intelligence and journalism: how to combine them wisely
What: Journalists and experts share insights and best practices on the smart use of AI in journalistic work.
Who: Roberta Carlini, European University Institute; Elda Brogi, European University Institute; Nisrine Salameh, International Federation of Journalists; Anthony Bellanger, International Federation of Journalists; Konrad Bleyer-Simon, European University Institute, Dariia Opryshko, NGO “Human Rights Platform.”
When: 8 am – 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: European University Institute
Tue, May 19 - The AI Agenda: Exploring the Trump Administration’s Approach to AI Literacy and Use
What: In this webinar, we’ll dig into the implementation challenges and opportunities at the heart of the administration’s AI literacy push: What is AI literacy—and how does it connect to the baseline digital skills that people already need but don’t always have? Who bears the responsibility for building these skills? What funding is available to support these initiatives, and how can it be effectively deployed? Which groups are being left behind as the administration forges ahead on AI upskilling? And how does all of this relate to the broader field of connectivity policy?
Who: Kyla Williams Tate, Director of Digital Equity for Cook County; Rachel Riggs, Sr. Technical Advisor, AI for Learning and Work at World Education; Annmarie Lanesey, CEO and Founder, Can Code Communities; Kara Kennedy, Founder of AI Literacy Institute; Jessica Dine Policy Analyst, Open Technology Institute and Wireless Future, New America.
When: 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: New America
Tue, May 19 - Data Reporting for Radio
What: You'll learn: The basics of data reporting; The basics of audio reporting; How to bring the two together — without losing your listeners.
Who: Hannah Reale, GBH News.
When: 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: New England First Amendment Coalition
Tue, May 19 - How Agentic AI Rewrites the Rules of Workplace Training
What: We’ll walk through research‑driven recommendations to help you integrate AI in ways that elevate (rather than overwhelm) your learning strategy. You’ll leave with concrete steps for improving communication around AI, strengthening employee adoption and leveraging agentic capabilities to streamline training.
Who: Tom Whelan, Director of Research, Training Industry.
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Training Industry
Tue, May 19 - Journalist safety in the US: Crowds, protests, and events
What: A panel of physical safety, digital security, and legal experts will provide practical advice for journalists covering events in the U.S, including best practices for covering protests, interacting with police and federal law enforcement, and crossing borders. Journalists will learn about securing their devices, their legal rights at the border and during newsgathering, and de-escalation techniques in a hostile crowd.
Who: Charles Kuck, Founding Attorney, Kuck Baxter LLC; Harlo Holmes, Chief Security Programs Officer, Freedom of the Press Foundation; Jeff Belzil, Security Director, International Women Media Foundation; Jen Nelson, Director of Pre-Publication Review and Journalist Support, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press; Viktorya Vilk, Director, Digital Safety and Free Expression, PEN America.
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: U.S. Journalist Assistance Network
Wed, May 20 - How AI Will Pay for Journalism: The Missing Economic Layer
What: Why the AI model collapse threat could become journalism’s unexpected leverage point; How original reporting becomes scarce and commercially valuable in an AI-driven content ecosystem; Where journalism sits in the emerging four-layer AI economy; What “journalism-first, AI-enabled” looks like through examples from The Hindu Group; What this shift means for subscriptions, licensing, content strategy, and revenue growth.
Who: Pradeep Gairola, Chief Digital Business Officer, The Hindu.
When: 4:30 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free to members
Sponsor: The HinduNews Media Association
Wed, May 20 - Unlocking the power of AI begins with your content
What: Discover practical, ready-to-use insights through live demos of Box Agents, Box Extract, and Box Automate, brought to life with real customers from financial services, life sciences, technology, and more.
Who: BOX CEO and Co-Founder Aaron Levie.
When: 9 am, Eastern & 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Box
Wed, May 20 - Beyond the Summary: Information Literacy in the Era of Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT
What: We will analyze current research on AI summaries and their impact on clicking and reading behaviors, including a recent Pew Research Center study finding that when an AI summary appears, users are almost half as likely to click on traditional search results and far less likely to visit the original sources cited.
Who: Maryska Connolly, MLIS, CloudSource Director of Partnerships & Communications, SirsiDynix; Rick Branham, Senior Vice President, Sales Support, Academic & Content Solutions, SirsiDynix.
When: 11 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: SirsiDynix and Library Journal
Wed, May 20 - Trademarks
What: A presentation on trademark basics and their value for small businesses, including helpful tips when applying for a federal trademark registration and how to avoid common pitfalls.
Who: Liz Jackson, Acting Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
When: 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Small Business Development Center, Temple University
Wed, May 20 - Better Prompts, Better Representation: Inclusive AI Images for Learning
What: You'll learn strategies for writing more effective image prompts to minimize bias and reflect more inclusive representation in your learning. You'll get tips to more authentically represent your training audience by using AI images. While AI tools are improving all the time, they still have limitations that you need to be aware of. We'll discuss some of the ongoing challenges with inclusive representation in AI image generation and options to minimize those issues.
Who: Christy Tucker, Learning Experience Design (LXD) Consultant.
When: 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Training Magazine Network
Wed, May 20 - Keeping ChatGPT from eating your lunch Using AI with Intention
What: We will explore the flaws in AI tools, what happens when you push them further, where they break, and how to revise your approach to use them more effectively. Tools like ChatGPT are already part of many journalists’ daily workflows, but understanding how they behave is key to using them responsibly and accurately.
Who: Andrea Ball, an Investigative Reporter from the Austin Current.
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: MuckRock
Wed, May 20 - AI Impact Hour for Nonprofits
What: AI Impact Hour is a practical, interactive conversation designed for executive directors, staff, board members, and volunteers who want to understand what AI can realistically do in a nonprofit setting. You’ll see simple demonstrations and real examples, and you'll have a chance to share your experiences, challenges, and insights with the group.
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: TechSoup
Wed, May 20 - Sourcing & Authority
What: This session focuses on how journalists and editors can build sourcing practices that strengthen disability coverage by centering disabled expertise and reducing over-reliance on institutional voices. Grounded in the practical newsroom tools in Fix the Frame, the workshop will help participants think more critically about authority, accountability, and verification in disability reporting. Participants will leave with concrete strategies for building stronger sourcing plans that improve both rigor and representation.
Who: Russell Midori, board chair of Military Veterans in Journalism and a board member of both the Disabled Journalists Association and the Overseas Press Club Foundation.
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Military Veterans
Wed, May 20 - Substack for Journalists: Growing Your Audience and Impact
What: You’ll learn how to use Substack as more than just a newsletter tool. We’ll explore how it can serve as the hub of a broader ecosystem that includes social media, podcasts, video, and direct audience engagement. You’ll gain clarity on how to define your editorial identity, grow your subscriber base organically, and turn casual readers into a loyal and potentially paying community.
Who: Aaron Parnas, Independent Journalist
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: $40
Sponsor: The Knight Center for Journalism
Wed, May 20 - Meet Brooke the Rural Journalist
What: Brooke will share her personal journey into journalism and give students an insider look at what working in the news industry is really like today. Together, students will explore how news and media are changing in a digital world, how information is shared online, and what journalism could look like in the future.
Who: Brooke Hargraves is an experienced journalist and media adviser.
When: 7 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Trellis Media
Thu, May 21 - Audience, AI and Events
What: Practical tools to strengthen your local news work
Who: Ellen Clegg, co-founder, board member, editorial adviser, Brookline.News; Dan Kennedy, professor of journalism, Northeastern University; Emily Turner, community deputy editor, Boston Globe; John Wihbey, Professor of Media & Technology at Northeastern University; Dan Lothian, Editor-in-Chief and General Manager of Local News; Lee Hill, Executive Editor, GBH News; Jonathan Kaufman, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, editor, and author, Northeastern University; Iris Adler, WBUR Public Radio.
When: 8:15 am - 3:15 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Northeastern University
Thu, May 21 - Introduction to AI for Data-Driven Investigations
What: This workshop offers a practical introduction to using AI for investigative journalism, focusing on real-world reporting applications. It covers workflows for extracting structure from text, cleaning data, identifying patterns, and checking findings with greater speed and depth, with demonstrations drawn from reporting on audit reports, public budgets, climate spending, and ad library data. It shows how investigative journalists can use AI tools to explore complex information and develop story ideas.
Who: Jaemark Tordecilla, a journalist, media advisor, and technologist.
When: 9:30 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Global Investigative Journalism Network
Thu, May 21 - Marketing That Moves: Build the Bridge Between Mission and Audience
What: Discover how to elevate your nonprofit's impact through effective marketing strategies. From storytelling to digital outreach, this session will explore key tactics to enhance fundraising, volunteer engagement, and community support.
Who: Kiersten Hill, Director of Nonprofit Solutions, Firespring.
When: 3:00 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Firespring
Thu, May 21 - Let’s Talk Video Strategy
What: How to approach storytelling across multiple social platforms. We’ll make sense of how to decide on different platforms to prioritize, how to decode analytics, how our guest works with reporters in the newsroom to translate in-depth reporting into video.
Who: Carissa Quiambao, Head of Social Video for ProPublica.
When: 3:00 pm, Eastern
Where: Eventbrite
Cost: $20
Sponsor: Video Consortium
Thu, May 21 - Where is AI in 2026, and where is it going?
What: We will explain why AI is quite proficient at some tasks while it performs poorly on others. AI safety concepts will be a significant part of the presentation. Leave with knowledge that will help you and your library be more prepared to serve your communities.
Who: Andres Ramirez, Director of Partnerships, AI Safety Awareness Project.
When: 3:00 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: WebJunction
Thu, May 21 - Building a Podcast to Create Organizational Learning Impact
What: Ways you can create and use podcasts in your organization to meet your learners where they are, build skills and confidence, and sustain and grow culture and alignment too
Who: Kevin Eikenberry, Chief Potential Officer, The Kevin Eikenberry Group and co-founder of The Remote Leadership Institute.
When: 3:00 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Training Magazine Network
Thu, May 21 - An Inside Look at Creator Journalism
What: A virtual nuts and bolts discussion about the world of independent, audience-driven publishing — what it is, how to get started and how to keep it going and growing.
Who: Michele Hornish, communications professional; Martin Kuz, independent journalist; Liz Kelly Nelson, co-founder of Project C; Patty Rasmussen, independent journalist and SPJ GA Freelance Chair.
When: 6:30 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free for members, $10 for non-members
Sponsor: SPJ Georgia
Fri, May 22 - Research and Reporting on ICE Through Public Records
What: This session will focus on research, reporting and data related to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with an emphasis on how public records and data can illuminate its operations and footprint. We will explore different ways reporters are using public records to build stories, analyze patterns, and uncover new angles.
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: MuckRock
Respect people
/Respect people for who they are, not for what their titles are. -Herb Kelleher
20 Recent Articles about AI & Journalism
/How to Save Independent Journalism from AI – Washington Monthly
Reporters at McClatchy Withhold Bylines in Dispute Over A.I. Content – New York Times
Teaching journalism in the AI era – Editor & Publisher
Talking buildings and Pixar-like avatars: Cleveland Plain Dealer AI videos draw criticism – Poynter
Did I Really Say That? A European journalist apologized for using AI to fabricate quotes. But there’s little accountability in blaming a chatbot. – Columbia Journalism Review
News organizations reconsider ties to AI company Nota after plagiarism findings - Poynter
Google Search is now using AI to replace headlines – The Verge
ProPublica journalists walk off the job in first U.S. newsroom strike over AI – Harvard’s Nieman Lab
NYT union tells management its AI standards are "woefully inadequate" – Axios
AP threatens Lee over potential contract breach - Axios
Three ways AI is making reliable information harder to find - Poynter
New York Times Cuts Ties With Book Review Writer Over AI Use – The Wrap
Journalism students are more skeptical of AI than you might think - Poynter
Senior European journalist suspended for publishing AI-generated quotes – Euro News
A Fortune editor has cranked out more than 600 stories using AI – Wall Street Journal
AI advice from journalists who stopped talking and started building - Poynter
Can Jonah Peretti Save BuzzFeed From Extinction? Facing financial straits, the founder is betting on a skunkworks for A.I. experiments. - New York Times
An AI company set out to fix news deserts. Instead, it copied local journalists’ work - Poynter
The stigma around AI in journalism may be easing, but trust is still fragile – Fast Company
Why communicators need to think like journalists when using AI - Ragan
AI Can Teach You to Use AI
/"You can literally use AI to teach you AI. Go to ChatGPT or Claude and say you're interested in learning more about how to use AI in your role, and it will help you get started. Say, 'Over the course of two weeks or one month, can you build out a schedule of courses?' And it will give you a play-by-play of what you should do." -CBS News
The people who love you
/The people who love you for real will notice your silence and come and sit in it with you.
27 Articles about AI & Legal Issues
/How AI, Digital Doubles, and New Laws Are Rewriting Fashion and Beauty – National Law Review
Can You Trademark Yourself? Inside Matthew McConaughey’s Novel Legal Strategy to Fight AI Theft – Variety
Celebrities are filing trademarks to combat AI clones. Should you? – Washington Post
Questions about AI liability for tax professionals – Reuters
Prosecutor suspended by state supreme court for artificial intelligence use in court docs – ABA Journal
Pennsylvania sues Character AI, says chatbot poses as doctors – Reuters
Five book publishers and a best-selling novelist accused Meta of stealing their work to help train A.I. models. – New York Times
AI ruling prompts warnings from US lawyers: Your chats could be used against you – Reuters
An incoherent patchwork of state laws threatens to handicap America in the artificial intelligence race. – Washington Post
U.S. OpenAI Sued by Seven Families Over Mass Shooting Suspect’s ChatGPT Use – Wall Street Journal
Taylor Swift Files to Trademark Her Voice and Likeness, Apparently to Protect Against AI Misuse – Variety
Alabama Supreme Court drops the gavel on lawyer who apparently used AI to apologize for using AI – Yellow Hammer News
Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman head to court in high-stakes showdown over AI – Associated Press
An elite Wall Street law firm has apologized to a federal judge for submitting a court filing full of A.I. “hallucinations.” – New York Times
Florida's attorney general announces criminal investigation into OpenAI over shooting – NBC News
Anthropic’s Leaked Code Tests Copyright Challenges in A.I. Era - New York Times
Health AI and the law: Could your chatbot doc testify against you? – Mashable
A Judge Mistakes the Claude Chatbot for a Person – Wall Street Journal
Judges are increasingly using AI to draft rulings and prepare for hearings – Washington Post
A.I. Incites a New Wave of Grieving Parents Fighting for Online Safety - New York Times
Helping the legal profession get AI‑ready: A new advisory board takes shape – Reuters
Anthropic’s Leaked Code Tests Copyright Challenges in A.I. Era - New York Times
AI-Generated Content and Copyright Law: What We Know – Builtin
This monkey selfie will protect you from AI slop – BBC
AI meets the gavel: Key legal battles and regulatory trends in the United States – JD Supra
Rethinking lawyer development in future AI-enabled law firms - Reuters