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While I focus on Technology, Innovation, and Publishing, because I have a platform, I also flag items that I think are important. I also try to include some resources & opportunities. Please let me know what you think.

Important Items

Trump Signs Executive Order to Neuter State A.I. Laws

The order grants broad authority to the attorney general to sue states and overturn laws, putting dozens of AI safety and consumer protection laws at risk. If states keep their laws in place, Mr. Trump directed federal regulators to withhold funds for broadband and other projects.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/11/technology/ai-trump-executive-order.html?unlocked_article_code=1.8E8.8Z23.GlpDs_hpUMp9&smid=nytcore-ios-share

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge against a Central Texas county’s removal of books from its public libraries

It’s a major blow to the yearslong legal fight against a coordinated censorship campaign by the county government.

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/12/08/texas-llano-county-library-book-ban-lawsuit-scotus/

At State Dept., a Typeface Falls Victim in the War Against Woke

Not important, just ridiculous and discriminatory! The change was meant to improve accessibility for readers with disabilities, such as low vision and dyslexia, and people who use assistive technologies, such as screen readers. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the Biden-era move to the sans serif typeface “wasteful,” casting the return to Times New Roman as part of a push to stamp out diversity efforts.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/us/politics/rubio-state-department-font.html?unlocked_article_code=1.808.a3BP.-CTMtCBzNCWr&smid=url-share

Innovation

MIT engineers design an aerial microrobot that can fly as fast as a bumblebee

With insect-like speed and agility, the tiny robot could someday aid in search-and-rescue missions.

https://news.mit.edu/2025/mit-engineers-design-aerial-microrobot-fly-like-bumblebee-1203

Technology

Kindle’s New “Ask this Book” Uses Generative AI to Create An In-Book Chatbot — Without Permission or Rights

Asked whether rightsholders could elect to withdraw from the program, Amazon said, “To ensure a consistent reading experience, the feature is always on, and there is no option for authors or publishers to opt titles out.”

Meanwhile, some publishers and their attorneys have been focusing this week on yet another potential rights encroachment by Kindle: Kindle has long had the capability to translate a word, phrase, or sentence into a wide variety of other languages. But it now will translate up to 1000 characters or so at a time and a user could translate their way through meaningful amounts of a given book.

https://lunch.publishersmarketplace.com/2025/12/kindles-new-ask-this-book-uses-generative-ai-to-create-an-in-book-chatbot-without-permission-or-rights/

Amazon offers AI translation for self-published Kindle books

ICYMI It can translate between English and Spanish and from German to English, at no extra cost to authors. Authors select the languages they want, set individual list prices for those translations, and preview them before publication. Amazon states “all translations are automatically evaluated for accuracy before publication” and specified that there will be a “Kindle Translate” label on ebooks that were translated with the AI tool.

https://www.theverge.com/news/815987/amazon-kindle-translate-ai-ebook-translation

Amazon lets authors offer DRM-free ebooks as PDFs and EPUBs starting January 2026

HT @publishingtrend Authors who publish DRM-free titles through Kindle Direct Publishing will soon see their books automatically converted into PDFs and EPUBs. This is a significant departure from Amazon’s historically closed ecosystem approach. For years, Kindle books have been locked into Amazon’s proprietary format, making it difficult for readers to move their purchases between devices or platforms. Now, authors who choose not to apply Digital Rights Management protection will essentially be offering their books in formats that work everywhere.

https://www.techbuzz.ai/articles/amazon-opens-kindle-direct-drm-free-books-to-pdf-epub-downloads

Meta strikes multiple AI deals with news publishers

Meta struck several commercial AI data agreements with news publishers ranging from USA Today, People Inc., CNN, Fox News, The Daily Caller, Washington Examiner and Le Monde. Meta backed away from compensating news companies several years ago, but has resumed paying for editorial content as it invests more in its AI chat tools that require real-time access to verified news.

https://www.axios.com/2025/12/05/meta-ai-deals-news-publishers

Google testing AI-powered article overviews on select pubs’ Google News pages

The Guardian, Der Spiegel, The Washington Post, & others testing. Participating outlets will be paid to offset drop in traffic & summaries feature clear attribution & links.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/10/google-is-testing-ai-powered-article-overviews-on-select-publications-google-news-pages/

Time Magazine Overhauls with Help from AI

Time has boosted engagement after it began revamping its web presence with features powered by AI.

https://www.adweek.com/media/ttime-magazine-ai-code-theory-onbackground/

Washington Post Launches AI Customized Podcasts

The Washington Post has used AI to build a pick-your-own-format podcast, letting listeners choose topics and hosts.

https://digiday.com/media/the-washington-post-debuts-ai-personalized-podcasts-to-hook-younger-listeners/

Washington Post’s AI Podcasts Full of Errors

Less than 48 hours since the product was released, people within the Post flagged what four sources described as multiple mistakes in personalized podcasts. The errors ranged from relatively minor pronunciation gaffes to significant changes to story content, like misattributing or inventing quotes and inserting commentary, such as interpreting a source’s quotes as the paper’s position on an issue.

https://www.semafor.com/article/12/11/2025/washington-posts-ai-generated-podcasts-rife-with-errors-fictional-quotes

Questions of accuracy arise as Washington Post uses AI to create personalized podcasts

Per WaPo, it’s “an AI-powered audio briefing experience” — and it will soon let listeners talk back to it. But in the newspaper’s app, a note advises listeners to “verify information” by checking the podcast against its source material.

Edison Research, says 1 in 5 podcast consumers say they’ve listened to an AI-narrated podcast. But for podcast listeners many prefer the human connection, accepting AI tools to assist in creating the content, but not in executing or hosting the podcast.

‘The automation of it kind of erases the entire voice performance industry. There are people who do this for a living, who could produce higher quality versions of these recordings.’

There are also concerns that, if AI chooses a story and controls how it’s presented, it might create an echo chamber, omitting context or skepticism that a journalist would likely provide.

Also, ‘generative AI models hallucinate, and when AI models are wrong, they’re often confidently so. Blurring boundaries between human and AI voices could also raise questions of trust — a critical factor for a news organization.’

https://www.npr.org/2025/12/13/nx-s1-5641047/washington-posts-ai-podcast

Disney Strikes $1B Deal w OpenAI, Licenses Iconic Characters

Per Disney CEO Iger, the deal is only for the images. The voices of performers & characters will not be part of the deal. Some user-created AI content will be “curated” & put on Disney+

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/411312/disney-strikes-1b-deal-with-openai-licenses-icon.html

Walt Disney to invest $1 billion in OpenAI, license characters for Sora

A few more interesting details: It’s not just 200 characters users can access but also 100s of other props (ie lightsabers). Disney has created a large brand appendix outlining all the use cases not allowed, has created steering committee w OpenAI to monitor.

https://www.axios.com/2025/12/11/openai-disney-sora

The Disney-OpenAI Deal Redefines the AI Copyright War

https://www.wired.com/story/disney-and-openais-deal-is-a-major-turning-point/

Disney sends cease-and-desist to Google, alleging copyright infringement

The letter puts copyright pressure on Google, which to date has been less aggressive about striking partnerships with copyright owners than some peers like OpenAI.

https://www.axios.com/2025/12/11/disney-google-ai

New York Times Sues AI Start-Up Perplexity

The New York Times has claimed in a lawsuit that its copyrights have been repeatedly violated by Perplexity

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/technology/new-york-times-perplexity-ai-lawsuit.html?unlocked_article_code=1.7U8.B7km.c2LtV6STNviC&smid=nytcore-ios-share

A.I. Videos Have Flooded Social Media. No One Was Ready.

Since the debut of OpenAI’s new app, deceptive videos have surged on TikTok, X, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/technology/ai-slop-sora-social-media.html?unlocked_article_code=1.7U8.q60K.UWOBvEHqQYSI&smid=nytcore-ios-share

AI Conference Overrun with AI Peer Review

HT @inkbitspixels 21% of the submitted peer reviews were fully AI-generated.

https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2025/12/04/ai-conference-overrun-with-ai-peer-review/

AI Agents Break Rules Under Everyday Pressure

Shortened deadlines and other stressors caused misbehavior.

https://spectrum.ieee.org/ai-agents-safety

Poems can hack ChatGPT? A new study reveals dangerous AI flaw

Researchers found that feeding dangerous prompts in the form of poems managed to evade “AI” safeguards—up to 90 percent of the time.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/2984769/a-poem-can-hack-chatgpt-new-study-reveals-a-surprising-ai-flaw.html

As AI marches into art, humanity is a selling point

HT @BoSacks AI’s infiltration of films, music, painting — even sculpture — is inspiring new resistance to tech in art, and putting a premium on work that’s purely human.

https://www.axios.com/2025/11/23/generative-ai-hollywood-art

NY Enacts AI Laws Requiring Disclosure Of Synthetic Performers In Ads and Consent For Posthumous Use Of Name, Image & Likeness

https://deadline.com/2025/12/new-york-ai-law-consumers-film-industry-1236646078/

EU launches antitrust probe into Google’s AI search tools

They’re concerned Google violated EU competition laws by using website & YouTube content without compensating creators to power AI Overview & AI Mode features.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/09/eu-launches-antitrust-probe-into-googles-ai-search-tools/

ChatGPT can now use Adobe apps to edit your photos and PDFs for free

Just describe your edits to ChatGPT, and the Photoshop, Acrobat, and Express apps will do it for you or surface the tool you need.

https://www.theverge.com/news/841369/chatgpt-apps-adobe-photoshop-acrobat-express

Figma launches AI-powered object removal and image extension

Users can select and adjust objects while preserving background details, and it will fill in backgrounds to adapt images for different formats, like banners.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/10/figma-launches-new-ai-powered-object-removal-and-image-extension/

Spotify tests more personalized, AI-powered ‘Prompted Playlists’

It lets users create highly personalized playlists using detailed written prompts.Unlike AI playlist tools, it draws from a user’s entire listening history, factoring in broader world knowledge.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/10/spotify-tests-more-personalized-ai-powered-prompted-playlists/

Google’s AI try-on app Doppl adds a shoppable discovery feed

Designed to help users find and virtually try on shoppable outfits, it has AI-generated videos of real products, tailored to user’s style based on prefs/in-app activity, w direct links to merchants.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/08/googles-ai-try-on-app-doppl-adds-a-shoppable-discovery-feed/

Google launches managed MCP servers that let AI agents simply plug into its tools

Google will make it easier for AI agents to connect securely to its services Maps, BigQuery, and Kubernetes, aiming to streamline integration, improve real-time data access.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/10/google-is-going-all-in-on-mcp-servers-agent-ready-by-design/

OpenAI, Anthropic, & Block join new Linux Foundation effort to standardize AI agent era

The Agentic AI Foundation to develop open standards & tools for AI agents, aiming to prevent fragmented, proprietary systems thru industry-wide collaboration.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/09/openai-anthropic-and-block-join-new-linux-foundation-effort-to-standardize-the-ai-agent-era/

The hidden cost of Amazon Nova 2

The tech is impressive, the trajectory problematic. Betting your agents on one cloud is a strategic mistake.

https://www.infoworld.com/article/4102693/the-hidden-cost-of-amazon-nova-2.html

OpenAI report reveals a 6x productivity gap between AI power users and everyone else

Employees who save more than 10 hours per week consume eight times more AI credits than those who report no time savings at all.

https://venturebeat.com/ai/openai-report-reveals-a-6x-productivity-gap-between-ai-power-users-and

The AI that scored 95%—until consultants learned it was AI

SAP asked teams to validate over 1K biz requirements completed by SAP’s AI co-pilot. Teams told the work came from junior interns, rated it 95% accurate. Team told it came from AI, rejected most of it.

https://venturebeat.com/ai/the-ai-that-scored-95-until-consultants-learned-it-was-ai

Agents, robots, & us: Skill partnerships in the age of AI.

HT @benedictevans Work in the future will be partnership between people, agents, & robots—powered by AI. Workers will spend less time prepping docs & doing research, more time framing questions & interpreting results.

https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/our-research/agents-robots-and-us-skill-partnerships-in-the-age-of-ai

From Campaigns to Biz Value: How AI Will Transform Marketing

HT @benedictevans In creative workflows, AI will most readily accelerate personalization, adaptation (e.g., translation or localization), creative testing and versioning, content management, and some production tasks. AI excels in these areas—tasks that build on existing creative ideas and require less human judgment.

In media workflows, measurement, planning, and buying benefit from upstream human judgment and are well suited to AI-enabled acceleration within 2-3 years. Programmatic, search, social, online video, and e-commerce (such as product detail pages) dominate the early adopter list.

https://www.bcg.com/publications/2025/transforming-marketing-with-ai

Amazon adds delivery tracking, last-minute adds, gift ideas to Alexa+

Alexa+ in US & Canada upgraded w new shopping features, incl a “Shopping Essentials” hub for Echo Show devices, the ability to add items to pending deliveries, & personalized gift recs.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/09/amazon-adds-delivery-tracking-last-minute-adds-gift-ideas-to-alexa/

Amazon starts testing ‘ultra-fast’ 30-minute deliveries

It will allow Amazon to compete w DoorDash, Uber Eats, & Instacart. It follows Amazon’s launch of 15-min delivery in UAE in Oct. Amazon said some customers received orders in as little as 6 mins.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/02/amazon-starts-testing-ultra-fast-30-minute-deliveries/

AI startup Tavus founder says users talk to its AI Santa ‘for hours’ per day

AI Santa lets parents/kids interact w a virtual St. Nick thru text, phone,or video chat. It raises concerns abt the impact on kids who may struggle to distinguish AI from reality.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/10/ai-startup-tavus-founder-says-users-talk-to-its-ai-santa-for-hours-per-day/

Google Plans Launch of AI Eyewear w Gemini for 2026

Google said it’s working to create two different categories of artificial intelligence-powered smart glasses to compete next year with existing models from Meta.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-08/google-says-first-ai-glasses-with-gemini-will-arrive-in-2026

Publishing & Media

Substack Begins Testing Sponsorship Ads in Limited Newsletter Pilot

Substack has announced a limited beta program allowing writers to insert sponsorships into newsletters.

https://www.adweek.com/media/substack-ads-sponsorship-newsletters/

Netflix Book Adaptations Drive Billions of Views

HT @publishingtrend Book adaptations drove more than 4.5B global views for Netflix in the first half of 2025 alone.

https://deadline.com/2025/12/netflix-book-adaptations-data-audience-2025-1236632110/

Predictions for Journalism 2026

Nieman Lab’s always outstanding yearly feature.

https://www.niemanlab.org/collection/predictions-2026/

Best Books of 2025 Across Lists

HT @publishingtrend

https://bookriot.com/the-best-books-of-2025-across-the-internet/

Resources & Opportunities

WMG Member Social with WMG Co-Presidents

12/16 6:30-7:30 p.m. ET. WMG members only. FREE (Zoom)

Join WMG Co-Presidents Jodi Brockington and Jane Wesman for a virtual Member Social, a community-building celebration for all WMG members. This isn’t just another Zoom meeting; it’s a chance to pause, connect, and invest in your professional community.

https://womensmediagroup.org/event-6429132

Black Musical Theater History Tour & Brunch with Kathy Sandler

1/10 11am. WMG Members Only.

Join me for an intimate cultural social: a guided exhibition tour followed by a relaxed brunch with fellow WMG members. Attendees will meet at the Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center for a free, staff-led tour of Syncopated Stages: Black Disruptions to the Great White Way! This new exhibition shines a light on the powerful impact of Black artists, productions, and theaters—from 19th-century trailblazers to today’s boundary-pushing storytellers who continue to shape musical theater. After the tour, we’ll head to Rosa Mexicano for brunch & conversation.

https://womensmediagroup.org/event-6458663

The Art of Being Irreplaceable: Creativity in the Age of AI

1/22, 12:00-1:00 p.m. ET. Free for WMG members; $15 for non-members (Zoom)

Are you afraid that AI is going to take your job? Yes—we all are! Yet one truth remains: artificial intelligence can mimic style, but it can’t replicate soul. Join Women’s Media Group for a thought-provoking session with award-winning author Jane K. Cleland, whose new book, Beat the Bots: A Writer’s Guide to Surviving and Thriving in the Age of AI, offers a roadmap for writers determined to stay both relevant and inspired. Guided by acclaimed publishing expert Jane Friedman, Cleland will share practical exercises to nurture imagination, spark original thinking, and resist creative conformity. Expect practical creativity boosters, encouragement to take risks, and a renewed sense of purpose in your storytelling journey. It’s not about resisting technology—it’s about harnessing what only humans can do.

https://womensmediagroup.org/event-6429044

WMG Comedy Night: Smart Laughs, Big Energy

1/27 6pm (VIP Reception) | 7:15 pm General Admission

Now with 30% more comedians – and 150% more laughs! Ready for a night of smart jokes, big energy, & powerful women? Join Women’s Media Group at Gotham Comedy Club in NYC featuring Sarah Cooper, Ophira Eisenberg, Phoebe Robinson, Youngmi Mayer, & Maysoon Zayid w emcee Audra Boltion-Ortiz. Don’t miss this mic-drop moment!

https://womensmediagroup.org/event-6425404

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