Navigating Media Transformation and Tech Dominance

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A discussion on the evolving media landscape, focusing on the rise of smaller media organizations, challenges faced by traditional giants like the New York Times, and the influence of tech giants like Facebook and Google on digital advertising. The chapter delves into the importance of quality journalism in society, ownership struggles in the newspaper industry, the impact of tech companies on news dissemination, and the potential of AI in both benefiting and potentially harming journalism.

What will the media landscape look like as tech companies, as opposed to traditional media, own increasingly more ink? And who better to offer an optimistic take on the news industry’s future than…Kara Swisher?!

Reid and Aria speak with the famous—and famously direct—tech journalist, author, and podcast host about the roles and responsibilities of journalists covering rapidly developing innovations, along with those of the technologists driving advancements. They cover the OpenAI/New York Times lawsuit, disinformation, TikTok legislation, and AI’s potential to improve healthcare and climate outcomes. Plus, Kara makes the case that today’s content creators benefit from staying relatively small vs. striving for scale.

Topics:

3:30 - Hellos and intros

3:54 - Technology that makes Kara optimistic

6:40 - Technology to solve climate change

8:43 - Why health-tech and climate tech inspire optimism

10:09 - State of the media landscape

15:34 - Can smaller-scale media work?

16:56 - Pi weighs in on Patrick Soon-Shiong

19:33 - How will AI impact media misinformation

22:27 - Impact of AI in politics

27:52 - Kara’s latest book

30:36 - Is AI training “stealing”?

37:28 - TikTok ban

42:51 - A question for Reid: Is TikTok worth buying?

45:43 - How to shape capitalism

51:30 - Rapid-fire questions

For more info on the podcast and transcripts of all the episodes, visit https://www.possible.fm/podcast/

Select mentions:

Burn Book by Kara Swisher

Platformer News founder Casey Newton

Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson

Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig

Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Anchor Oyster Bar

What if, in the future, everything breaks humanity's way? Possible is an award-winning, weekly podcast that sketches out the brightest version of the future—and what it will take to get there. Hosts Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger explore what’s possible with forward-thinking leaders, deep thinkers, and ambitious builders across many fields, such as technology, art, education and healthcare. These conversations center on the ways technology—and, in particular, AI—is shaping the future. In episodes, AI tools such as OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Inflection’s Pi are at work, offering informational asides, prompting guests, or demoing what they can do. Lastly, between guest episodes, Aria interviews her co-host Reid on his latest takes on what’s possible if we use technology—and our collective effort—effectively.