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

The U.S. Mint dropped the olive branch from the dime. What does that mean for the country?

Just more outrageous ridiculousness to distract from the real harm….

The U.S. Mint unveiled new designs for the country’s 250th anniversary and it left out one key detail: the olive branch from the newly designed dime. The new reverse shows a bald eagle mid-flight, arrows clutched in its left talon and nothing—where an olive branch once lived—in its right, with beneath, the inscription “Liberty over Tyranny.”

https://fortune.com/2026/03/12/us-mint-drops-olive-branch-dime-peace-war/

Technology

Google Just Patented The End Of Your Website

A patent granted to Google describes a system that evaluates your company’s landing page in real time and, if it decides the page won’t perform well enough for a specific user, replaces it with an AI-generated version assembled on the fly. The user never sees what your team built—they see what Google’s machine learning model thinks they should see instead.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joetoscano1/2026/03/06/google-just-patented-the-end-of-your-website/

When People Never See Your App: Designing Brands for the Agentic Economy

AI agents are redefining how & where trust, authority, & relevance earned. Brands building for agentic must ensure they show up in AI output & use AI to redefine how they create value.

https://www.bain.com/insights/when-people-never-see-your-app-designing-brands-for-the-agentic-economy/

Microsoft’s Content Marketplace and the birth of “platform capture.”

HT ⁦@BoSacks⁩ Microsoft’s Publisher Content Marketplace effectively formalizes our transition from independent destinations to mere “invisible infrastructure.” We provide high-quality journalism, fact checking, and specialized data; Microsoft provides the interface, the audience, and—crucially—the price tag. We aren’t partners here; we’re suppliers to a monopoly that owns the customer relationship.

https://creativelicensinginternational.com/licensing-brief/is-the-fox-now-building-the-hen-house/

AI hasn’t created a new problem for publishing – it simply clarified an old one

HT ⁦@BoSacks⁩ If Vogue & Vanity Fair relied on Google to deliver readers, the issue was never Google. Publishers who built on search were renting an audience, not owning one.

https://monocle.com/culture/media-industry/ai-hasnt-created-a-new-problem-for-publishing-it-has-simply-clarified-an-old-one/

Adobe debuting an AI assistant for Photoshop

You can generate, edit, & refine images using natural language prompts & guided controls. It suggests adjustments, automates complex edits, & offers contextual recommendations.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/10/adobe-is-debuting-an-ai-assistant-for-photoshop/

Figma connects OpenAI’s Codex & Anthropic’s Claude Code

You can use Figma to design a UI, and Codex will write the code for you. Or you can take a functioning interface and use Claude Code to convert it into editable frames in Figma.

https://techinformed.com/figma-connects-codex-and-claude-code-via-mcp/

Dynamic UI for dynamic AI

A2UI has interfaces that evolve based on an agent’s goals, context, and real-time needs. It’ll give agents the ability to detect & manipulate interface elements, collaborate w users, and present info tailored to the task at hand.

https://venturebeat.com/technology/dynamic-ui-for-dynamic-ai-inside-the-emerging-a2ui-model

Google NotebookLM can now turn your notes into videos — here’s how it works

You upload content (research, notes & documents) and it extracts key ideas + presents them in videos w narrated slides, visuals & diagrams.

https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/ai-image-video/google-notebooklm-can-now-turn-your-notes-into-ai-videos-visual-learners-will-love-this

Adobe Firefly’s video editor can now automatically create a first draft from footage

Quick Cut assembles raw footage & B-roll into a coherent 1st draft based on user prompts. It analyzes pacing, scene relevance & visual context.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/25/adobe-fireflys-video-editor-can-now-automatically-create-a-first-draft-from-footage/

Luma launches creative AI agents powered by ‘Unified Intelligence’ models

The agents combine editing, reasoning, and multimodal understanding into unified agents to follow complex creative prompts & workflows for images, video, & text

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/05/exclusive-luma-launches-creative-ai-agents-powered-by-its-new-unified-intelligence-models/

Google rolls out new Gemini capabilities to Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/10/google-rolls-out-new-gemini-capabilities-to-docs-sheets-slides-and-drive/

How to make your e-commerce product visible to AI agents? Use this new system trusted by L’Oréal, Unilever, Mars & Beiersdorf

Azoma’s Agentic Merchant Protocol (AMP) structures product data in machine-native format so AI agents can interpret & present it.

https://venturebeat.com/infrastructure/how-to-make-your-e-commerce-product-visible-to-ai-agents-use-this-new-system

ChatGPT can now create interactive visuals to help you understand math and science concepts

It converts text prompts into dynamic diagrams, charts, and other visual aids, to explore and manipulate representations of math, science, and complex concepts.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/10/chatgpt-can-now-create-interactive-visuals-to-help-you-understand-math-and-science-concepts/

ChatGPT’s new GPT-5.3 Instant model will stop telling you to calm down

It reduces overly cautious language and excessive disclaimers that frustrated users. It also integrates web info. more to reduce misinformation and hallucinations.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/03/chatgpts-new-gpt-5-3-instant-model-will-stop-telling-you-to-calm-down/

OpenAI launches GPT-5.4 with Pro and Thinking versions

Pro is optimized for speed, responsiveness, and high-throughput general tasks. Thinking prioritizes deeper reasoning and more advanced problem-solving.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/05/openai-launches-gpt-5-4-with-pro-and-thinking-versions/

Music generator ProducerAI joins Google Labs

You can co-create and refine songs through text prompts and iterative AI collaboration.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/24/music-generator-producerai-joins-google-labs/

Google Pulled Into AI Music Litigation Fray as Indie Artists Claim Lyria 3 Stole YouTube Songs

https://www.billboard.com/pro/google-ai-music-lawsuit-artists-lyria-3-model-youtube-songs/

A roadmap for AI, if anyone will listen

A bipartisan group of experts released the Pro-Human AI Declaration, calling for clearer guardrails around AI development, emphasizing human control, accountability, and limits on concentrated power. Max Tegmark leads the effort.

Pillars include:

keeping humans in charge,
avoiding the concentration of power,
protecting the human experience,
preserving individual liberty, and
holding AI companies legally accountable.

They call for an outright prohibition on superintelligence development until there’s scientific consensus it can be done safely and with genuine democratic buy-in; mandatory off-switches on powerful systems; and a ban on architectures that are capable of self-replication, autonomous self-improvement, or resistance to shutdown.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/07/a-roadmap-for-ai-if-anyone-will-listen/

Meta patents AI that takes over a dead person’s account to keep posting and chatting

While it could help preserve memories, it sparked ethical concerns around consent, identity, & potential misuse without clear permission from the individual/their estate

https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/meta-patents-ai-that-takes-over-a-dead-persons-account-to-keep-posting-and-chatting-3320326/

Watch Out, Meta. I Tried Alibaba’s Qwen Smart Glasses and They’re Mega Impressive

Use cases are turn-by-turn directions, teleprompter, simulutaneous translation, and hands-free food & transportation ordering.

https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/alibaba-launches-qwen-ai-smart-glasses-at-mwc-2026/#ftag=COS-05-10aaa0j

What Is Claude? Anthropic Doesn’t Know, Either

Researchers at the company are trying to understand their A.I. system’s mind—examining its neurons, running it through psychology experiments, and putting it on the therapy couch.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/02/16/what-is-claude-anthropic-doesnt-know-either

Microsoft built Phi-4-reasoning-vision-15B to know when to think—and when thinking is a waste of time

Its mixed reasoning approach allows it to decide when step-by-step chain-of-thought reasoning is useful + when a direct answer is more efficient.

https://venturebeat.com/technology/microsoft-built-phi-4-reasoning-vision-15b-to-know-when-to-think-and-when

Yahoo debuts personalized AI homepage MyScout

Yahoo says MyScout is the first personalized homepage built off of an AI-driven answer engine. The AI answer engine, and the new personalized homepage feature, are meant to serve as a user guide to the internet, which is a callback to Yahoo’s original founding as a search engine over 30 years ago.

https://www.axios.com/2026/03/11/yahoo-personalized-ai-homepage-myscout

Adobe reaches $150 million settlement of US lawsuit over termination fees, subscription cancellations

Adobe was accused of burying fees, making terminations a hassle. Settlement includes $75 million fine to the U.S. government, $75 million free services.

https://www.reuters.com/world/adobe-pay-75-million-resolve-us-lawsuit-over-fees-subscription-cancellations-2026-03-13/

Amazon is determined to use AI for everything – even when it slows down work

Corporate employees said Amazon’s race to roll out AI is leading to surveillance, slop and ‘more work for everyone’.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2026/mar/11/amazon-artificial-intelligence

‘Pokémon Go’ players have been unknowingly training delivery robots

The massive crowdsourcing effort could use real-world to help robots deliver pizza.

https://www.popsci.com/technology/pokemon-go-delivery-robots-crowdsourcing/

Publishing & Media

Authors Guild Launches Expanded “Human Authored” Certification Program

The Authors Guild’s Human Authored certification mark may be used by authors and publishers who wish to distinguish their human-written books from the glut of AI-generated books saturating the marketplace. A literary work is “Human Authored” if the text itself was fully authored by one or more human beings and not generated by AI, except for a de minimis amount (such as through the use of AI-powered spelling and grammar check applications). Use of GAI to create a table of contents, indices, or other auxiliary parts of a book, or for researching, brainstorming, outlining, or any purposes other than generating text, does not disqualify a work from being Human Authored.

https://authorsguild.org/news/human-authored-certification-expands-to-all-authors/

UK’s Society of Authors launches Human Authored logo in response to ‘flood of AI-generated books’

Self-published authors and publishers will be able to use the Human Authored mark on their books and the books’ associated web and retail pages. Readers will be able to search the Human Authored database before buying or borrowing a book, giving them confidence that the books they choose to read are the creative work of a human, rather than AI-generated content produced by a chatbot.

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/soa-launches-human-authored-scheme-in-response-to-flood-of-ai-generated-books

Around 10k authors protest AI commercial research exception with publication of empty book

Around 10,000 authors have come together to publish Don’t Steal This Book, an empty book protesting the UK government’s proposed “commercial research exception” to copyright law, which would make it easier to train AI models on copyright-protected work without a license.

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/around-10k-authors-protest-ai-commercial-research-exception-with-publication-of-empty-book

These Women Are Redesigning The Book Publishing Industry

There’s a long understood contradiction across the publishing world: Women buy more than 80% of fiction. They fill the editorial floors, the publicity teams, the literary agencies. Yet they have held far less power over the decisions about which books a publishing house can acquire, where the marketing budgets focus, which voices get to reach readers, and which ones get left behind. Those decisions have been made by a small, largely male class of executives at the top of a handful of publishing houses. But lately, a growing number of women are challenging that system.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyshoenthal/2026/03/11/these-women-are-redesigning-the-book-publishing-industry/

A Call to Action – Closing the Gender Gap in Nonfiction Publishing

HT @publishingtrend Women nonfiction writers paid 36% less than males. 26% reviews in natl. newspapers are books by women; 33% of shortlist or winners of major non-fiction prizes in last 10 yrs are women

https://publishingperspectives.com/2026/03/a-call-to-action-closing-the-gender-gap-in-nonfiction-publishing/

How to Use Podcast Guesting to Promote Your Nonfiction Book

Start pitching early, look for promotion on social media, be creative in which podcasts you approach, get pitching help. Via

https://janefriedman.com/how-to-use-podcast-guesting-to-promote-your-nonfiction-book/

Resources & Opportunities

WMG Job Seekers

LAST CHANCE! 3/16, 12-1pm, NYC. WMG members only; FREE

Looking for a job, planning to pivot, or underemployed? Join us to network, share tips, and offer support. Connect with each other, hear from an expert, & come armed with questions! Former WMG Membership Chair Susan McCulloch will be in conversation w WMG Board member Keline Adams, Director at Penguin Random House.

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6509718

Film Screening: Women Laughing

3/19 5:30-7:30pm, Society of Illustrators, NYC

$25 for WMG & Society of Illustrators members; $30 for non-members

SOLD OUT – You can join the waitlist!

Join acclaimed cartoonists Roz Chast, Liza Donnelly, & Emily Flake for a private screening of the acclaimed documentary, Women Laughing, in which Donnelly, director and producer, set out to explore her lifelong passion for women’s humor & cartooning with a probing look at the history of women cartoonists at The New Yorker. In a panel discussion after the screening, the producer, Judith Mizrachy, talks with Chast, Donnelly, & Flake about their creative processes and opportunities for women cartoonists.

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6542015

Built to Belong: Creating Impact Through Connection & Purpose

Psst: My Newsletter Subscribers can use code WMGPARTNER

to come for the member rate of only $20!

Hope to see you there!!

3/24, 5:30-7:30 pm, Penguin Random House, NYC

We’re often told that impact requires independence and hustle. But the truth is simpler—and more powerful: the most meaningful legacy is built together. Aiko Bethea (Author, Anchored, Aligned, Accountable), Allison Gilbert (Co-Author, The Joy of Connections), Genevieve Piturro (Speaker & Founder, Pajama Program), and Karen Salmansohn (Author, Your To-Die-For Life), join Moderator Ann Shoket (CEO, The Li.st) for an extraordinary discussion you won’t want to miss! Come for inspiration and insight; leave activated with a plan to build connection, lead in harmony with your values, and shape a legacy rooted in community (and maybe make a new friend).

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6573185

Annual Business Meeting

3/25 12-12:30pm ET; WMG members only; FREE (Zoom)

Spend 30 minutes with Co-Presidents Jane Wesman and Jodi Brockington, and members of the Board, in a brief virtual meeting to vote in the new Board and review highlights of the past year.

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6573950

Well-Read & Well-Fed in NJ with Elisa Ung and Nicole DiMella

4/9, 4/9 6:30-9pm [words] Bookstore, NJ; WMG members only; FREE

You can never have too many books—or bookstores. Meet WMG members Elisa Ung and Nicole DiMella at [words] Bookstore, an independent shop with a mission to provide vocational training and employment for individuals with autism. At 7:30, we’ll continue next door to Coda Kitchen and Bar for dinner. Note: attendees pay for their own books, food, and beverages.

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6566129

AI in publishing workflow conference

HT @janefriedman Free 5/11-5/22 virtual.

https://purepub.ai

The 2027 Page One Media Pro Bono Book Publicity Grant

Attn. underrepresented adult book authors: Apply by 5/15 for a pro bono publicity campaign.

https://page1m.com/grant/

Culture House Open Call

Creatives Interested in Immersive: Culture House is seeking submissions from writers, designers, composers, filmmakers, generative performers, creative technologists, generative directors, and creative producers to join their “creators rooms,” to build out the world and the project together.

https://culture.house/open-call

NYC Cultural Fund Grant application

HT⁦ @galeabrewer ⁩The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) is a mayoral agency charged with the administration of city funds in support of arts and culture throughout New York City’s five boroughs. The Cultural Development Fund (CDF) is DCLA’s competitive, peer-evaluated grant process that supports a broad, multidisciplinary group of diverse nonprofit organizations for their cultural services to city residents. Annually, the CDF supports over 1,000 grantees for programmatic funding. On average, over 75% of applicants receive funding, which is provided by the Mayor and City Council. Deadline 4/2.

https://www.nyc.gov/site/dcla/cultural-funding/about-cdf-registration.page

NYC Create in Place: Webinar Series

The Dept. of Cultural Affairs’ NYC Create in Place program free webinar series: Building Creative Capacity to help support creative small businesses and nonprofit arts organizations. Thursdays, 3/19, 3/26, and 4/2, 1 pm, free, online.

https://mailchi.mp/culture/nyc-create-in-place-building-creative-capacity-series

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