With all the discourse out there about AI taking media jobs, I've been trying to stay cautiously optimistic. Mainly because a lot of what's being said is just speculative, often from people who have some vested interest in AI — using it as an excuse to make budget cuts or to make bank (or both).
To cut through all the noise, I wanted to talk to someone who could give a real, unbiased perspective — and that person is AI ethicist and NYU professor Meredith Broussard. She was one of only six women studying computer science at Harvard back in the early ‘90s, went on to become a features editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer, and has spent the last decade scrutinizing AI and its impact on media. Anna Wintour hosts Q&As at Condé Nast where she invites interesting people to speak to staff off the record — and I heard Meredith's conversation with Wired's Katie Drummond absolutely blew people away. Our chat lived up to that hype.
Plus, a La Fronde member shares a celebrity interview disaster that went down at her magazine, an exclusive on Bari Weiss's quiet Paramount windfall, a top NYT journalist opens a new bookstore in Brooklyn and more in Seen and Heard.
Tuesday newsletters are for paid members while Thursdays are free. Help support our fully-independent newsroom by becoming a paid member and get the best of La Fronde.
xoxo,
Stephanie
AI ethicist Meredith Broussard: 'We need to look at how new technologies are deployed against women'
The media layoffs have nothing to do with AI. That's not wishful thinking — it's backed by research, according to Meredith Broussard, the NYU professor, ethicist and data journalist who has been scrutinizing AI longer than most people knew it existed.
Meredith was one of only six undergraduate women studying a computer science concentration at Harvard when she enrolled in 1991. After her stint in Cambridge, she became a features editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer, and coined the term "technochauvinism" — the belief that technology is always superior to human judgment — in her 2018 book ‘Artificial Unintelligence.’ She saw what was coming before the rest of us did. So when she says the bots aren't taking your job, it's worth listening to.
I talked to Meredith about how AI really might impact our jobs, how AI bias negatively impacts women and people of color at work more than we realize, and why AI will never be able to replicate your writing.
This is only for paid La Fronde members
Get the full La Fronde experience by becoming a paid member.