Hacks/Hackers

Sawyer Bernath of Tarbell Center is discussing how much of mainstream reporting on AI focuses on national security and business angles, despite the fact AI is already impacting nearly all aspects of modern life.

#AIJournalismHH

It's not too late to join nearly 300 journalists, technologists and news product leaders at the Summit in Baltimore. Get tickets here: lu.ma/gxdhtufs

A movie theater marquee showing the Hacks/Hackers AI X Journalism Summit

We are live at the first-ever @hackshackers.com AI x Journalism Summit! Thanks to @therealnews.com for hosting us in Baltimore. Here’s our program for the next two days: bit.ly/hh-ai-journa...

Great event on the future of facts at @poynterinstitute.bsky.social last night. Totally worth the 5 a.m. flight to make it to the @hackshackers.com AIxJournalism Summit today!!

The conference title on the marquee outside - hosted at the Real News Network

A Baltimore Beat box!

Hello from Baltimore! I’m here at the @hackshackers.com AI Journalism Summit

My session is tomorrow morning, talking about @citybureau.bsky.social @documenters.org and equipping residents to monitor local government. If you’re at the conference- come and say hi!

Our first-ever AI x Journalism Summit is underway! See our Summit Schedule page to keep track of the 40+ presenters who are sharing insights about the future of journalism, and share your updates with the summit hashtag:

#AIJournalismHH

www.hackshackers.com/ai-x-journal...

Intro to AI for Journalists at the National Press Club. A workshop on basic, practical AI skills. May 16, noon to 4 pm ET. In person. Tickets on sale.

May 16: Join us at @pressclubdc.bsky.social for a half-day workshop on AI skills for journalists.

With @vaniaandre.bsky.social, @thehaitiantimes.bsky.social; @pcheung630.bsky.social, @hackshackers.com; @andrewwallender.com, @bloomberglaw.com

Tickets on sale: www.eventbrite.com/e/intro-to-a...

🚨Last call for regular tickets! 🚨We're holding our first-ever AI x Journalism Summit in Baltimore May 7-8 (that's next week!) and the deadline for regular tickets is EOD, Friday May 2nd! Come and join us to plan the future of journalism. Tix here: lu.ma/gxdhtufs

How to Become a Better Manager with AI Explore how AI is reshaping managerial roles and decision-making processes in newsrooms and media organizations. In this panel, instructors and participants in the AI Journalism Lab: Leadership will share the specific techniques and tools that helped them leverage AI effectively in their leadership with confidence and foresight. - Marie Gilot, Executive Director J+, ​​Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY - Rubina Fillion, Associate Director of A.I Initiative, The New York Times - Vania André, Chief Operating Officer and Editor-in-Chief, The Haitian Times - Paris M. Brown, Publisher, The Baltimore Times

At our Summit next week (!) panelists Paris M. Brown, Marie Gilot, @rubinafillion.nytimes.com & @vaniaandre.bsky.social, all instructors & participants in the AI Journalism Lab: Leadership, will share the techniques and tools that help them wield AI effectively as newsroom managers & leaders.

Join Us for the Hacks/Hackers AI x Journalism Summit 2025 (May 7–8) Registration | Speakers | Sessions | Travel The 2024 election campaign demonstrates that media disruption is only just beginning. With the accelerating development of AI, there promises to be an expl...

See the full AI x Journalism Summit schedule here: www.hackshackers.com/join-us-for-...

Vibe Check: AI Focus Groups That Never Ghost You Traditional audience research is expensive, slow, and often limited—what if you could instantly test your stories with diverse reader perspectives? In this demo-driven session based on Stanford research, Patrick Swanson of Verso will show how AI personas react to headlines in real-time, revealing audience blind spots that other metrics miss. Learn how to create your own synthetic focus groups using basic tools like ChatGPT, and join a candid discussion about the potential and ethical boundaries of this emerging approach to audience understanding. - Patrick Swanson, Co-founder, Verso

Journalists: What if you could instantly test story ideas
w/ diverse reader views? On May 7, verso.ink 's Patrick Swanson demos how AI personas reveal audience blind spots in real time—no surveys needed. Learn to build focus groups w/ ChatGPT while considering ethical limits.

Harnessing AI for Personalized News Experiences Everyone’s talking about AI and personalized content—but how do these systems actually work in practice? In this talk, I’ll share how Yahoo News is using generative AI to deliver tailored news experiences at scale. I’ll dive into real-world examples of AI-driven content personalization, structured data tagging, and how we measure success across launches. You’ll hear what’s working, what’s not, and where we see the future of AI in journalism headed. Spoiler: LLMs aren’t always the best answer. - Chi-Chi Zhang, Senior Director of Product for Machine Learning, Yahoo News

What does it actually take to personalize news at scale? On Thurs May 8 at our upcoming AI x Journalism Summit, Chi-Chi Zhang of @yahoonews.com breaks down the tools and the tradeoffs (spoiler: LLMs aren’t always the answer). See the Summit schedule here: www.hackshackers.com/join-us-for-...

​Join pioneering journalists, technologists and innovators for two transformative days exploring how AI can enhance journalism and information. Through hands-on workshops, real-world case studies, and collaborative sessions, discover how to leverage AI to strengthen reporting, streamline workflows, create more impactful stories and build innovative new products. ​Three tracks: ​Reporting on AI: With AI being integrated into more parts of everyone’s lives, journalists will play an essential role in documenting the effects of algorithms on people’s lives and holding institutions accountable ​Using AI: Learn practical ways to incorporate leading AI tools into your workflow - from automated transcription and translation to using large language models for research and analysis. ​Building with AI: What do future media products look like when they leverage the power of generative AI? How will we reimagine user interfaces, discovery, distribution and monetization of news and information products? ​Whether you're a reporter, editor, product manager, or technologist, gain practical skills and insights to thrive in the evolving media landscape.

There is just over one week until our first-ever AI x Journalism Summit, and we're almost sold out! Hosted by our friends @TheRealNews , the Summit is in Baltimore on Wed May 7 & Thurs May 8.

Get your tickets here, or share with someone you know: lu.ma/gxdhtufs

Join Us for the Hacks/Hackers AI x Journalism Summit 2025 (May 7–8) Registration | Speakers | Sessions | Travel The 2024 election campaign demonstrates that media disruption is only just beginning. With the accelerating development of AI, there promises to be an expl...

See the full AI x Journalism Summit schedule here: www.hackshackers.com/join-us-for-...

Watch Your Language: AI and Bias Detection Our research at the University of Florida focusing on language use in news coverage identified common word choices that can convey unintended bias. Based on this research, we've developed a machine-learning tool journalists can use to make more intentional, precise language choices. - Janet Coats, Managing Director, Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications

In her session on Thurs, May 8 at our upcoming AI x Journalism Summit called “Watch Your Language: AI and Bias Detection,” Janet Coats shares findings from her research and introduces a machine-learning tool designed to help journalists identify and reduce bias in their writing.

Edit or Be Edited: Why Journalists Must Master AI Before It Masters Them Key takeaways about AI and the future of journalism from this year’s SKUP Conference in Norway.

"Media organizations need to recognize that high-quality journalism is increasingly valuable in an AI-driven ecosystem." @pcheung630.bsky.social shares key takeaways about #AI and the future of #journalism from this year’s SKUP Conference in Norway.

www.hackshackers.com/edit-or-be-e...

Glad to hear this hits the bulls-eye, sorry you can't make it! I do not think there are plans so far to record the sessions, although we may publish some recaps if we can. If there are any sessions you're particularly interested in, let us know in the replies here. -- Nevin Thompson

Join Us for the Hacks/Hackers AI x Journalism Summit 2025 (May 7–8) Registration | Speakers | Sessions | Travel The 2024 election campaign demonstrates that media disruption is only just beginning. With the accelerating development of AI, there promises to be an expl...

See the full AI x Journalism Summit schedule (May 7-8 in Baltimore) here: www.hackshackers.com/join-us-for-...

Lessons from The City: Using AI to Map Coverage Blind Spots Do your newsroom’s coverage choices reflect the diversity of the community you cover? Generative AI can help you answer that question better than ever before. In 2023, THE CITY used ChatGPT to analyze its entire archive of more than 4,000 stories and to identify the New York City neighborhoods it covers, and presented the results on a map of the city. In this session, two of the people who worked on the project will walk you through their process and share how you can apply the technique to your own archive. - Scott Klein, Entrepreneur in Residence, Automattic - Tazbia Fatima, Newsroom AI and Automation Engineer, Hearst Newspaper

@thecity.nyc

Where is your newsroom *not* showing up? At our upcoming AI x Journalism Summit on May 7, Tazbia Fatima & Scott Klein share how @THECITYNY used ChatGPT to map out neighborhood-level blind spots in its coverage. Smart, reflective journalism starts with asking better questions.

Red Team: AI Threat Assessment for Modern Newsrooms Presented by News Product Alliance As newsrooms adopt AI-powered tools to enhance editorial workflows and better serve their audiences, they open themselves up to new risks around protecting sensitive user data and adhering to strong ethics policies. Understanding the potential ways these tools can impact news organization’s relationships with their users is crucial to ensure that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past: Relying on tech companies to protect the values of good journalism. This workshop will introduce the concept of 'red teaming' – a practice used in cybersecurity to find weaknesses in software before it is launched – and will guide participants through the process with a hands-on exercise to identify risks and help newsrooms of all kinds build more robust AI strategies and policies. - Greg Emerson, Product lead, NPA

This May 7 workshop at our AI x Journalism Summit introduces 'red teaming'—a cybersecurity practice to identify vulnerabilities—and a hands-on exercise to help build robust, responsible newsroom AI strategy.​ See the full Summit schedule here: www.hackshackers.com/join-us-for-...

Building AI Agents for Journalism: From Idea to Automated Workflow Learn to create your own AI monitoring system through a case study tracking presidential executive orders. This session shows how to combine Google AI Studio and Zapier to build an AI agent workflow that automatically scrapes government publications, analyzes their constitutional implications, and organizes findings into a Google Sheet—all without coding expertise. You'll see how to establish real-time connections between data sources, configure generative AI for document analysis, and create dynamic configurable workflows that free you to focus on reporting rather than routine monitoring. Whether you cover politics, courts, business, or any beat with recurring, time-sensitive documents and data, you'll leave with practical steps to build similar automated systems for your own reporting needs. - Hong Qu, Adjunct Lecturer, Harvard Kennedy School

At our upcoming AI x Journalism Summit (May 7-8), Hong Qu will demonstrate how to build a no-code AI agent that automatically tracks executive orders, analyzes their impact, and organizes it all in a Google Sheet. See the full Summit schedule here: www.hackshackers.com/join-us-for-...

Source Detective: Using LLMs to Analyze Journalistic Attribution Patterns Explore how large language models are revolutionizing the analysis of source attribution in journalism. This session demonstrates how advanced prompt engineering can help newsrooms systematically examine their sourcing practices, from expert citations to anonymous sources. Subbu Vincent, Director of Journalism and Media Ethics, Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics will share new research benchmarking different LLMs' abilities to extract and analyze attribution patterns, with practical applications for both individual reporters and newsroom-wide content analysis. Join us to see how this technology could transform source diversity tracking, ethical reporting practices, and the distinction between various forms of journalism through their sourcing patterns. - Subbu Vincent, Director of Journalism and Media Ethics, Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.

On Wed, May 7 at our upcoming AI x Journalism Summit in Baltimore, @subbuvincent.bsky.social explores how LLMs are revolutionizing the analysis of source attribution in journalism.

See the daily Summit session schedule here: www.hackshackers.com/join-us-for-...

Maslow’s toolbox: A framework for understanding and prioritizing problems that could—or shouldn’t—be solved by AI Maslow’s saying goes: With all the excitement, emphasis and wariness around AI as a tool for journalists, it’s difficult to remember where to start to solve problems. Join VP of product strategy at American Press Institute and former emerging technologies editor at The Washington Post, Elite Truong, in this workshop, where you’ll think through your organization’s biggest problems and center them first. Then, you’ll learn a framework to evaluate how AI can and can’t help solve the most important your newsroom has, identify reporting, production and administrative bottlenecks without distracting from your newsroom’s top editorial and audience goals, and remember that you can benefit from having a robust toolbox that can solve those problems in many different ways, even when certain tools are highlighted.

With the hype around #AI, it’s difficult for newsrooms to know where to start. At our AI x Journalism Summit (May 7-8), Elite Truong, VP Product Strategy at @ampress.bsky.social will discuss how newsrooms can use AI to solve problems in different ways. More here: www.hackshackers.com/ai-x-journal...

AI x Journalism Summit Schedule Hacks/Hackers and our host partners are convening the first-ever AI x Journalism Summit in Baltimore from May 7–8.

Announcing the full Summit schedule: More than 40 speakers presenting hands-on, real-world applications of AI in journalism in Baltimore, May 7-8: www.hackshackers.com/ai-x-journal...

Three AI x Journalism Summit Sessions I Don’t Want to Miss What do I, a journalist at the start of my career, really want to see?

"The upcoming AI x Journalism Summit in Baltimore in May is a huge opportunity for me to learn about how newsroom processes will adopt – and adapt to – these new technologies."

www.hackshackers.com/three-ai-x-j...

Exploring AI in the newsroom and a 'liquid content' future at AI x Journalism House 2025 Insights on AI adoption from The New York Times, Der Spiegel, The Texas Tribune and more, plus AI x Journalism Summit updates, journalism jobs and upcoming events from around the world.

Read our latest #newsletter: Updates from our recent AI x #Journalism House, hosted by the @texastribune.org in Austin during the massive SXSW megafestival.

www.hackshackers.com/exploring-ai...

Thanks for coming, Aimee! We appreciated your insights. - NT

Wrapping up the day with Der Spiegel at the @hackshackers.com AI x Journalism House during SXSW. We have a full day coming up tomorrow, join us: lu.ma/aj74ayou

Kicking off our AI x Journalism House here during @sxsw.com at @texastribune.org with @cnti.bsky.social. Join us if you’re in Austin: lu.ma/aj74ayou

After a success workshop earlier this week, we’re sharing a workshop prototype for newsrooms where participants design AI solutions for tackling information overload. www.hackshackers.com/when-politic...