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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

FCC chair suggests agency isn’t independent, word cut from mission statement

https://www.axios.com/2025/12/17/brendan-carr-fcc-independent-senate-testimony-website

New York passes law requiring ads to disclose the use of AI performers

ICYMI A bill focused on how someone’s name or likeness can be used after their death was also passed.

https://www.engadget.com/ai/new-york-passes-law-requiring-ads-to-disclose-the-use-of-ai-performers-202619826.html

Trump-Aligned Law Firm Files Civil Rights Complaint Against PRH

America First Legal (AFL), the conservative public interest law firm founded in 2021 by current White House official Stephen Miller, filed a federal civil rights complaint against Penguin Random House with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission demanding “an investigation into apparent race- and sex-based discrimination in its hiring, promotion, and workforce development practices.”

PRH is just the latest to be targeted by AFL. The group previously filed >100 legal actions against other “woke” companies such as Disney, Nike, and Mattel for their DEI policies, which AFL alleges discriminate against white men. #teamPRH

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/99327-trump-aligned-law-firm-files-civil-rights-complaint-against-prh.html

Cheap and powerful AI campaigns target voters in India

HT @benedictevans Indian political campaigns used AI to create material, including misinformation, with voices cloned into local languages. (India has a lot of languages and you need more than a dozen for national reach.)

https://restofworld.org/2025/ai-india-election-campaigns/

Technology

Hollywood Insiders Unite to Fight for Future of Industry With Launch of Creators Coalition on AI

More than 500 writers, actors, and technologists launch the Creators Coalition on AI to push standards for how AI is trained and used across creative industries. They published four distinct goals and a call to action and hope to act as a central coordinating hub to upgrade industry systems and institutions.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/hollywood-creators-coalition-on-ai-launch-members-organization-1236450293/

Washington Post Stands Behind AI Podcast Plan Despite Staff Outcry

Post journalists have expressed frustration with the AI product’s errors and editorializing.

https://www.thewrap.com/washington-post-ai-podcast-defense/

Adobe Firefly now supports prompt-based video editing, adds more third-party models

You can use text prompts to edit video elements, colors, and camera angles, and we also get a new timeline view that lets you adjust frames, sounds, and other characteristics easily. Users can now upload a start frame and a reference video of a camera motion and tell it to recreate that camera angle for the video they’re working on.

Using Runway’s Aleph model, users can give Firefly specific instructions, such as “Change the sky to overcast and lower the contrast” or “Zoom in slightly on the main subject.” And you can use the Topaz Labs’ Astra model to upscale videos to 1080p or 4K.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/16/adobe-firefly-now-supports-prompt-based-video-editing-adds-more-third-party-models/

Luma releases a new AI model that lets users generate a video from a start and end frame

It allows users to modify existing footage by providing character reference images that preserve the performance of the original footage. Users can also provide a start and an end frame to guide the model to generate transitional footage. It retains the actor’s original motion, timing, eye line, and emotional delivery while transforming the scene. “Creative teams can capture performances with a camera and then immediately modify them to be in any location imaginable, change costumes, or even go back and reshoot the scene with AI, without recreating the physical shoot.”

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/18/luma-releases-a-new-ai-model-that-lets-users-generate-a-video-from-a-start-and-end-frame/

Cursor Launches an AI Coding Tool For Designers

HT @benedictevans Cursor’s visual editor lets you drag-and drop UI elements to build your own app or website GUI.

https://www.wired.com/story/cursor-launches-pro-design-tools-figma/

You can buy Instacart groceries without leaving ChatGPT

HT @benedictevans Take a photo of a recipe, a photo of your fridge, and tell ChatGPT to buy ingredients you don’t already have. Instacart is giving up UX & the customer for ChatGPT’s 7M US daily active users.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/08/you-can-buy-your-instacart-groceries-without-leaving-chatgpt/

DoorDash is partnering with OpenAI to offer a grocery-shopping app within the startup’s ChatGPT platform

A week after the Instacart announcement, DoorDash has a similar one: Users can ask ChatGPT for meal or recipe suggestions, then ask the chatbot to shop for it using the DoorDash app.

https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/doordash-teams-up-with-openai-to-offer-grocery-shopping-in-chatgpt-359aa0c5

Instacart’s AI Pricing May Be Inflating Your Grocery Bill

Grocery prices differed by as much as 23% per item from one Instacart customer to the next. In an inadvertently sent email, the company calls one pricing tactic “smart rounding.”

https://www.consumerreports.org/money/questionable-business-practices/instacart-ai-pricing-experiment-inflating-grocery-bills-a1142182490/

Google tests email-based AI productivity assistant

CC, powered by Gemini, can connect with your accounts, such as Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Calendar, and provide you with a daily brief via email. This “Your Day Ahead” email makes users aware of their tasks, summarizes their calendar, and provides key updates for the day from these accounts.

You can also reply to or email CC at any time with requests such as adding to-dos, teaching it to your preferences, remembering notes, or searching for information.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/16/google-tests-an-email-based-productivity-assistant/

Google Translate now lets you hear real-time translations in your headphones

Google launching beta for real-time headphone translations in Translate app, adding advanced AI translation capabilities & expanding language-learning tools to more countries.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/12/google-translate-now-lets-you-hear-real-time-translations-in-your-headphones/

Google debuts ‘Disco,’ a Gemini-powered tool for making web apps from browser tabs

HT @benedictevans Google’s Disco is a browser that can generate simple apps based on the tabs you have open, letting you filter, combine, and remix info across different websites.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/11/google-debuts-disco-a-gemini-powered-tool-for-making-web-apps-from-browser-tabs/

Google’s new Gemini 3 Flash is fast, cheap and everywhere

https://www.axios.com/2025/12/17/google-gemini-3-flash-pro-model

Google’s vibe-coding tool Opal comes to Gemini

Some of Google’s pre-made Gems include a learning coach, a brainstorming assistant, a career guide, a coding partner, and an editor. Opal helps create mini-apps or mix existing apps.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/17/googles-vibe-coding-tool-opal-comes-to-gemini/

JP Morgan’s AI adoption

JPMorgan Chase large-scale, voluntary adoption of internally built AI assistant suite, used >60% of employees, by focusing on powerful, easy-to-use tools connected to critical biz systems thru advanced multimodal RAG architecture.

https://venturebeat.com/orchestration/jp-morgans-ai-adoption-hit-50-of-employees-the-secret-a-connectivity-first

Meta’s AI glasses can now help you hear conversations better

Meta is updating its AI-powered smart glasses with a conversation-focus mode to amplify voices in noisy environments and a Spotify feature that plays music based on what you’re looking at.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/16/metas-ai-glasses-can-now-help-you-hear-conversations-better/

Instagram brings Reels to the big screen, starting with Amazon Fire TV

https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/16/instagram-brings-reels-to-the-big-screen-starting-with-amazon-fire-tv/

OpenAI in Talks to Raise $10B from Amazon, Use Its Chips

Another circular deal.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-17/openai-in-talks-to-raise-10-billion-from-amazon-information

How One AI Model Creates a Physical Intuition of Its Environment

Video Joint Embedding Predictive Architecture (V-JEPA) takes latent representations generated from masked frames & predicts from unmasked frames, enabling it to focus on important aspects.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-one-ai-model-creates-a-physical-intuition-of-its-environment-20251003/

AgenticAdvertising.org – a new governance effort for AdCP

HT @benedictevans A consortium of adtech companies has launched Agentic Advertising, which aims to be a non-profit setting standards for ads in LLMs, run by a former head of the IAB.

https://tipsheet.ai/governance/agentic-advertising-org/

Jeep’s AI-generated talking animals signify change in auto industry

Per a recent study, consumer-facing AI technology could save more than $7B per year for automotive companies. Generative AI transforms automotive marketing by cutting content production costs by up to 60%.

https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/chrysler/2025/12/06/jeep-ai-generated-marketing-campaign-ads/87217350007/

Entry-level hiring at big tech companies has dropped >50% over the last three years

Employers now expect fresh graduates to handle sales, project management, and customer-facing roles, making the traditional engineering degree feel increasingly outdated.

https://restofworld.org/2025/engineering-graduates-ai-job-losses/

Sharing Your Location With Friends Is the Best Form of Social Media—and It’s Not Even Close

Apple’s Find My is Gen Z’s newest social media app. And it’s a dang good one at that.

https://slate.com/technology/2025/12/apple-find-my-app-location-sharing-gen-z-trend.html

Publishing & Media

Are we falling out of love with nonfiction?

HT @jeffjarvis In the early 2020s, readers flocked to books to explain political turbulence. But is the world now too grim to read about – and are podcasters taking the place of authors?

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/dec/17/are-we-falling-out-of-love-with-nonfiction

Netflix Adds Podcasts in Deal With iHeartMedia

Podcasts produced by iHeartMedia will publish their video episodes exclusively on Netflix beginning in early 2026.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/business/media/netflix-iheartmedia-video-podcasts.html?unlocked_article_code=1.9U8.nGrL.xLNh9ugZyuVk&smid=nytcore-ios-share

The Entire New Yorker Archive Is Now Fully Digitized

The New Yorker has digitized its full archive covering 100 years, including covers and adding upgraded search capabilities; subscribers get unlimited access.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/press-room/the-entire-new-yorker-archive-is-now-fully-digitized

Highlights from NiemanLab’s Predictions for Journalism 2026

Last week, I posted the whole collection. ICYMI, below are some highlights.

AI makes human journalists more important than ever

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/ai-makes-human-journalists-more-important-than-ever/

Newsrooms will reckon with AI slop

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/newsrooms-will-reckon-with-ai-slop/

AI isn’t the threat anymore. Avoiding it is.

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/ai-isnt-the-threat-anymore-avoiding-it-is/

Rise of the vibecoding journalists

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/rise-of-the-vibecoding-journalists/

In 2026, AI will outwrite humans

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/in-2026-ai-will-outwrite-humans/

Big Tech needs us more than we need them

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/big-tech-needs-us-more-than-we-need-them/

Platforms realize they don’t need journalists

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/platforms-realize-they-dont-need-journalists/

AI supercharges the challenges of discerning truth from fiction

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/ai-supercharges-the-challenges-of-discerning-truth-from-fiction/

The AI winners will recognize that knowledge needs humans

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/the-ai-winners-will-recognize-that-knowledge-needs-humans/

Journalism is in danger of bending itself around AI

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/journalism-is-in-danger-of-bending-itself-around-ai/

The year we all algorithm-proof our audiences

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/the-year-we-all-algorithm-proof-our-audiences/

The year AI companies pay for the value of publishing

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/the-year-ai-companies-pay-for-the-value-of-publishing/

The rise of the throwaway news app

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/the-rise-of-the-throwaway-news-app/

The AI winners won’t be the biggest newsrooms

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/the-ai-winners-wont-be-the-biggest-newsrooms/

AI will reinvent local news

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/ai-will-reinvent-local-news/

AI will rewrite the architecture of the newsroom

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/ai-will-rewrite-the-architecture-of-the-newsroom/

News product teams are uniquely positioned to unlock AI value

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/news-product-teams-are-uniquely-positioned-to-unlock-ai-value/

The year news gets personalized (seriously)

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/the-year-news-gets-personalized-seriously/

Please learn how to use your computer

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/please-learn-how-to-use-your-computer/

From both-sidesism to backbone

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/from-both-sidesism-to-backbone/

Independent publishers set the agenda

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/independent-publishers-set-the-agenda/

Audiences will increasingly direct news coverage — for better and for worse

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/audiences-will-increasingly-direct-news-coverage-for-better-and-for-worse/

Stewarding the stories that power tries to silence

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/stewarding-the-stories-that-power-tries-to-silence/

The DEI whiplash continues

https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/the-dei-whiplash-continues/

The whole NiemanLab collection really is that good that there were so many highlights, and it is all worth a read.

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

Half of U.S. teens think journalists make up quotes and do favors for sources

HT @BoSacks 84% of American teens describe news media negatively. When asked to name a journalist, most teens struggled. Among those who could, put Spider-Man or Anchorman Ron Burgundy.

https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/half-of-us-teens-think-journalists-make-up-quotes-and-do-favors-for-sources-new-report-finds,259102

Hay Festival Crowdsourcing The Pleasure List for National Year of Reading

Hay Festival is launching The Pleasure List campaign for the National Year of Reading, crowdsourcing reading recommendations for new readers to combat falling literacy rates in the UK. Run in partnership with the National Year of Reading 2026, The Pleasure List campaign “will encourage reading for pleasure in adults, sharing the most un-put-downable books,” Hay Festival said. Readers can share their recommendations for the chance to win a bundle of books for a public community space of their choosing.

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/hay-festival-is-launching-the-pleasure-list-campaign

The 7 Media Trends That Defined 2025

Artificial intelligence, search volatility and events have helped reshape the media business, media executives said.

https://www.adweek.com/media/media-trends-defined-2025/

25 Big Ideas that will define 2026

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/25-big-ideas-define-2026-linkedin-news-mioie/

Media Executives Share Their Predictions for 2026

From LLM discovery to human-first storytelling, the new year will reward trust, differentiation, human connection, and deeper audience relationships, per execs at Conde Nast, USA Today and others.

https://www.adweek.com/media/2026-media-predictions/

What’s ahead for media in 2026? Anonymous executives make bold predictions

Apple to acquire NBCUniversal?

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/18/2026-media-predictions-anonymous-executives.html

Top 52 Banned Books: The Most Banned Books in U.S. Schools

https://pen.org/top-52-banned-books-since-2021/

Resources & Opportunities

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

Just added: Akilah Hughes!! 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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