Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic and former Wired editor, dives deep into the controversial deal with OpenAI, discussing its impacts on journalism. He highlights concerns over AI’s commodification of creativity and the balance of power in data usage. The conversation explores subscription resilience in the face of AI chatbots and the ethical dilemmas of content creation. Thompson also addresses the need for clear copyright standards and the evolving landscape of media ethics amid rapidly changing technology.
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insights INSIGHT
Deal with OpenAI
The Atlantic signed a deal with OpenAI for revenue, traffic, product partnership, and shaping AI's future.
They aim to improve AI's impact on journalism through collaboration.
insights INSIGHT
Deal Components
The deal involves training on data, product partnership, search integration, and feedback exchange.
It prioritizes fair compensation and beneficial AI evolution for journalism.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Editorial Integrity
Nick Thompson worked at Wired, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic, giving him a broad media perspective.
He emphasizes prioritizing editorial integrity over business deals.
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Today I’m talking to Nicholas Thompson, the CEO of The Atlantic. I was really excited to talk to Nick. Like so many media CEOs, including Vox Media’s, he just signed a deal allowing OpenAI to use The Atlantic’s vast archives as training data, but he also has a rich background in tech. Before he was the CEO of The Atlantic, Nick was the editor-in-chief of Wired, where he set his sights on AI reporting well before anyone else.
I was also really interested in asking Nick about the general sense that the AI companies are getting vastly more than they’re giving with these sorts of deals — yes, they’re paying some money, but I’ve heard from so many of you that the money might now be the point — that there’s something else going on here – that maybe allowing creativity to get commodified this way will come with a price tag so big money can never pay it back. If there is anyone who could get into it with me on that question, it’s Nick.
Links:
Vox Media and The Atlantic sign content deals with OpenAI | The Verge
Journalists “deeply troubled” by OpenAI’s content deals with Vox, The Atlantic | Ars Technica
What the RIAA lawsuits mean for AI and copyright | The Verge
Perplexity plagiarized our story about how Perplexity Is a bullshit machine | Wired
How to stop Perplexity and save the web from bad AI | Platformer
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