Azeem Azhar's Exponential View AI & the future of media with The Atlantic CEO, Nicholas Thompson
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Jul 24, 2025 
Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic and a pioneer in media's AI integration, dives into the seismic shifts affecting journalism. He discusses the 'four horsemen' of journalism, including the rise of individual creators and AI's dual role in content creation. The conversation tackles declining search traffic and the innovative business model of ProRata as a possible remedy. Thompson also addresses the balance between editorial freedom and the need for oversight, emphasizing how independent platforms like Substack are reshaping the media landscape.
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Four Horsemen Challenge Journalism
- Journalism faces four major challenges: sovereign creators, collapsing search traffic, declining trust, and AI's transformative impact.
- AI can help identify hidden assumptions in stories, enhancing trust across political divides.
Collapse of Search Traffic Threatens Media
- Declining search traffic significantly reduces reader visits, risking exposure and revenue for media businesses.
- The Atlantic is preparing for a future with much less search-driven discovery to maintain resilience.
Cloudflare’s LLM Jail Shifts Leverage
- AI models crawl news websites extensively, incurring costs with minimal human referrals.
- Cloudflare's LLM Jail tool blocks unauthorized crawlers, shifting leverage toward media companies for fair data deals.
