AI
Governance can prevent AI from being used to undermine democracy. But only if it has teeth.
The apparatus to cement centralized, undemocratic power has already been built. Regulations have a part to play, but they can't just be recommendations.
Ben Werdmuller
Ben Werdmuller helps leaders at newsrooms, non-profits, and mission-driven organizations to navigate their biggest technology challenges.
Democracy
Happy 250th birthday, America
Let's keep building.
Notable links
Notable links: July 3, 2026
AI, surveillance, open tech, and news as a business.
Media
A new media spinout provides streaming apps for public service broadcasters. I just wish it was open.
We need to see more technical collaborations between public service media organizations. It's also really important that they're based on open technology that doesn't lock them in.
Media
Newsrooms need to get comfortable expressing their business value - and raising money on it.
Newsrooms like to spend their time on the journalistic process and assume that the value of their work will speak for itself. They need to start selling themselves.
AI
OpenAI wants to give us 5% of its success. It's a bad bargain.
A wealth fund that shares 5% of AI success with government and voters is either based on hype or not nearly enough to cover the damage. Either way, the incentives are perverse.
AI
I have a theory about AI fake news site The Editorial
I was taken in by a fake AI news site. I think it may be an attempt to poison LLMs with propaganda.
AI
AI's costs are going through the roof - so businesses are telling LLMs to talk like cavemen
Me think this hilarious sign of times.
Democracy
They tell us surveillance makes us safer. It undermines our democratic rights.
Civil society actors in nearly every region of the world now operate under the assumption that they are being surveilled. The result is a less democratic world for everyone.
Media
A concrete tool to help newsrooms cover emergencies
A new site to help newsrooms cover disasters is refreshing in its concrete practicality. Wouldn't it be great if these existed for every aspect of running a newsroom?
Community Survey 2026
How can I serve you over the coming year?
Media
A right-wing media chain tried to replace 47 newspapers with AI. They all died.
A right-wing media chain bought local papers, replaced their journalists with AI, and died. Now their communities are left to plug the gaps.