The Media Copilot

John Levitt, COO and co-founder of Elvex, an AI platform for media, shares insights on the practical use of AI in newsrooms. He discusses how AI aids in reporting, fact-checking, and sales operations, emphasizing the importance of company culture for successful adoption. Levitt introduces concepts like 'context engineering' and agent-to-agent workflows, which promise personalized news experiences. He advocates for safe experimentation and highlights fast-adopting teams, focusing on how AI can transform rather than replace journalists.

Tony Stubblebine, CEO of Medium, discusses the evolving landscape of writing in an AI-influenced world. He argues that AI can enhance creativity rather than replace it, signaling a writing renaissance. The conversation touches on the shift from free-content economics to smaller writing communities, the Really Simple Licensing (RSL) standard for negotiating with AI, and the potential for AI tools to increase writers’ productivity. Stubblebine believes this era will deepen connections between writers and their audiences.

Trip Adler, co-founder of Scribd and CEO of Created by Humans, dives into the evolving landscape of AI and copyright. He discusses his mission to help authors get paid for their work used by AI, emphasizing the need for distinct "AI rights." Trip introduces his "Fourth Law of Robotics" aimed at protecting creators. He reflects on the significant Anthropic case and outlines how books could become a major revenue stream as authors license their content. Insightful, thought-provoking, and crucial for writers navigating the AI age!

In a compelling discussion, Marc McCollum, Chief Growth Officer at Raptive, shares insights on how AI is reshaping the publishing landscape. He argues that despite AI summaries taking clicks away from creators, there's an opportunity to rebuild the open web with a creator-first approach. Marc emphasizes the importance of owning audiences and website traffic, highlights recipe sites as resilient to AI disruptions, and reveals the untapped potential of Google Discover for growth. A must-listen for those invested in the future of media and creator independence!

Ryan Heafy, co-founder and COO of 6AM City, shares insights into revolutionizing local journalism by focusing on newsletters without the typical chaos. He discusses their impressive expansion from a handful of cities to over 410 markets, utilizing AI for responsible scaling while retaining human oversight. The conversation reveals their anti-scraping strategy for accurate reporting and the recent acquisition of AI startup Good Daily to enhance their tech infrastructure. Heafy emphasizes the future of personalized, modular content that adapts across multiple platforms.

Social feeds turned news into a rage machine. Cory Ondrejka says it’s time for a reset! Use AI to cut the noise, respect your time, and deliver journalism that actually matters.For years, the way we consume news has been warped by engagement algorithms that reward outrage and overwhelm. With attention hijacked and trust eroding, millions have simply tuned out. But what if AI could help fix what it broke?On this episode of The Media Copilot, host Pete Pachal talks with Cory Ondrejka, former Facebook and Google exec (and co-creator of Second Life), now at SmartNews, where he leads the development of NewsArc; an AI-powered app that curates the best single article on each major news event. No doomscrolling, no junk summaries, and no ragebait. Just clarity, curation, and a front page you can trust.Why this matters now:News avoidance is at record highs, and trust in media is cratering. NewsArc offers an alternative: a shared, AI-assisted “Daily Dozen” that highlights the most informative reads, respects journalistic integrity, and compensates publishers fairly. With LLMs used for claim-checking, not content theft, the app delivers a smarter, calmer news experience for readers who want to be informed, not inflamed.Key Topics:🔹 Why social feeds broke the news🔹 How NewsArc uses AI to elevate not replace journalism🔹 The problem with summaries and the power of “claim-level” analysis🔹 Why a shared front page matters in a polarized world🔹 How SmartNews compensates publishers in the LLM era🎙 Guest: Cory Ondrejka | EVP, SmartNews / Creator of NewsArc LinkedIn | smartnews.com 📩 Enjoyed this episode?Subscribe to The Media Copilot on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app.On YouTube? Tap the Like button and Subscribe to the channel 🔔For more AI tools and resources built for media professionals, visit MediaCopilot.ai.🎧 Produced by Pete Pachal and Executive Producer Michele Musso 🎬 Edited by the Musso Media Team © 2025 Musso Media. All rights reserved.🎵 Music: “Favorite” by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under CC BY 4.0© AnyWho Media 2025

 AI engines are siphoning off billions in value from publishers. Bill Gross says it’s time to flip the model: charge for crawls, share revenue on answers, and build the “conversation layer” that keeps audiences engaged.If the 2010s were about gaming Google with SEO, the 2020s are about surviving AI’s takeover of distribution. Global pageviews are down 25% in a year, roughly $100B in value shifted from websites to AI engines without compensation. Bots now outnumber human visitors by staggering ratios, and publishers are footing the bill.On this episode of The Media Copilot, host Pete Pachal talks with Bill Gross, founder of ProRata and creator of Gist AI, an ethical AI search platform backed by 750 publishers. Gross makes the case for a new deal: pay publishers when AI crawls their sites, share revenue when AI uses their work, and build experiences that move beyond “ten blue links” to true conversations with audiences.Why this matters now:Web traffic is plunging and is down 250 billion views a day, or about $100 billion a year in lost value. Bots now scrape far more than they give back, with Google at 12:1 and some AI engines hitting 1,200:1, leaving sites like Wikipedia footing huge server bills. Bill Gross’s solution is Gist AI, a publisher-backed search platform with 750 partners, 30 million documents, and a 50/50 revenue share model.Key Topics: 🔹 The economics of zero-click search 🔹 Why one-time licensing checks won’t sustain publishers 🔹 How “sponsored supplements” could reinvent ads in AI answers 🔹 Why publishers should stop chasing SEO tricks and focus on true value 🔹 What Gross calls the “conversation layer” and why it’s the next big battleground🎙 Guest: Bill Gross | Founder & CEO, ProRata | https://www.linkedin.com/in/billgrossidealab https://gist.ai/ https://prorata.ai/ 📩 And if you enjoyed this conversation, I’d encourage you to follow the show on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast app that you want. Also, I’d appreciate it if you’d leave a rating or review — it really does help the show. And if you’re on YouTube, don’t forget to “like” the video and subscribe to the channel 🔔You can also subscribe to The Media Copilot newsletter  and visit mediacopilot.ai for exclusive resources, tools, and AI training courses built specifically for media professionals.This episode of The Media CoPilot was produced by Pete Pachal, Executive Producer Michele Musso, and with video/audio editing by the Musso Media team. Produced by Musso Media. © 2025 Musso Media. All rights reserved.Music: Favorite by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 4.0 License © AnyWho Media 2025

If the last decade was about platforms swallowing the press, the next one is about AI mediating everything…how we find news, what we trust, and who gets paid. On this episode of The Media Copilot, host Pete Pachal welcomes Justin Hendrix, CEO and editor of Tech Policy Press, a nonprofit dedicated to provoking debate at the intersection of technology and democracy. Hendrix’s path from The Economist to NYC Media Lab to founding a policy newsroom, shapes a rare perspective; he speaks policy, product, and press. Who sets the rules for AI and media—industry, government, or the public? Justin Hendrix argues the answer starts with competition policy and ends with better equilibria for democracy.Topics we cover🔹 Copyright and AI training: The battle between fair use and “giant theft,” why the U.S. path may be decided in court, and how commercialization complicates the ethics. 🔹 Power concentration: How antitrust and the Digital Markets Act could serve as tectonic levers to rebalance control between platforms and publishers. 🔹 Quality versus “good enough”: AI hallucinations, the shift to AI as the first stop for answers, and what’s at stake when accuracy is the product. 🔹 The “beat China” argument: Why urgency-driven narratives risk steamrolling communities, due process, and environmental review in the name of AI infrastructure. 🔹 Search, remedies, and AI distribution: What Google’s antitrust outcomes could mean for AI-driven search and publisher leverage. 🔹 Where media could go next: Licensing to AI agents, building owned agents, or a future where AI firms hire thousands of journalists themselves. 🔹 Policy capacity and trust: Why the government’s tech knowledge gap matters and how Tech Policy Press is helping close it for lawmakers and regulators. 🔹 Behavior shift: From NPR commutes to chatbot conversations, and the emerging risks of AI companionship and blurred lines between utility and dependency.Guest: Justin Hendrix — CEO/EditorTech Policy Press :https://www.techpolicy.press/ 📩 And if you enjoyed this conversation, I’d encourage you to follow the show on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast app that you want. Also, I’d appreciate it if you’d leave a rating or review — it really does help the show. And if you’re on YouTube, don’t forget to “like” the video and subscribe to the channel 🔔You can also subscribe to The Media Copilot newsletter  and visit mediacopilot.ai for exclusive resources, tools, and AI training courses built specifically for media professionals.This episode of The Media CoPilot was produced by Pete Pachal, Executive Producer Michele Musso, and with video/audio editing by the Musso Media team. Produced by Musso Media. © 2025 Musso Media. All rights reserved.Music: Favorite by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 4.0 License © AnyWho Media 2025

Aurélie Guerrieri, Chief Growth Officer at DataDome, is a powerhouse in bot defense and AI traffic. She reveals how AI is reshaping bot sophistication and the urgency for publishers to adapt their defenses. Aurélie discusses the challenges of block versus allow strategies and emphasizes the importance of intent over identity in bot detection. She introduces the concept of prompt-time fetching and argues for nuanced controls to harness beneficial bot activity for revenue. Lastly, she encourages publishers to rethink their access and monetization strategies in this AI-driven landscape.

Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic and a veteran of Wired and The New Yorker, shares insights into the publication's AI revolution. He discusses the creation of an AI task force aimed at adapting to declining search traffic and explores bold licensing agreements, including one with OpenAI that stirred editorial concerns. Thompson emphasizes the ethical considerations of AI in journalism and the balance between maintaining subscriber trust and innovative experimentation. Their conversation reveals how personalized AI tools could redefine reader engagement with news.