Reminder: I optimized this newsletter for subscription. If you’re reading this on my blog or Medium (via website or email), please subscribe at https://www.sandlertechworks.com/ for the best user experience (and to get it in a timely fashion).

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 SAVE Act Is Designed to Erode Access to the Ballot

The bill requires a passport or birth certificate—in person, just to register. It eliminates online & mail registration. And forces anyone who moves or changes their name to start the documentation process from scratch.

https://msmagazine.com/2026/03/23/rachana-desai-martin-save-act-abortion-voting-rights-reproductive-rights/

Technology

‘Soon publishers won’t stand a chance’: literary world in struggle to detect AI-written books

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/29/ai-written-books-novel-shy-girl-publishers

AI and Publishing: FAQ for Writers

By @JaneFriedman Drawn from her reporting and analysis, it’s an attempt at a clear statement of what the law and courts currently say about AI, primarily in the US. Covers copyrighting AI-assisted work, AI training and fair use, AI licensing, AI in book contracts, disclosure of AI use + AI detection, and proving or certifying human authorship.

https://janefriedman.com/ai-and-publishing-faq-for-writers/

An AI Upheaval Is Coming for Media. This Journalist Is Already All In.

A Fortune editor has cranked out more than 600 stories using the technology; ‘this won’t be seen as some people’s idea of journalism’

https://www.wsj.com/business/media/an-ai-upheaval-is-coming-for-media-this-journalist-is-already-all-in-3511d951

Meet the Tech Reporters Using AI to Help Write and Edit Their Stories

Independent writers are using AI agents all throughout their reporting process. What’s the value of a human journalist, anyway

https://www.wired.com/story/tech-reporters-using-ai-write-edit-stories/

“I was surprised how upset some people got”: A conversation with the creator of TomWikiAssist, the bot that edited Wikipedia

The bot made decisions on its own and even exchanged messages with Wikipedia editors.

https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/i-was-surprised-how-upset-some-people-got-a-conversation-with-the-creator-of-tomwikiassist-the-bot-that-edited-wikipedia/

New York Times Accused of Running AI-Generated Article

The New York Times faced scrutiny online this week after netizens speculated that a personal essay featured in its storied “Modern Love” column was generated using AI and published without disclosure. Nothing is proven; the AI allegations remain exactly that. The AI paranoia among readers, though, is very real.

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/new-york-times-accused-ai-article

AI Learned to Write Like You. Detection Is Mathematically Impossible.

Without collaboration from the model (such as watermarking), the text itself contains no provable evidence of its origin.

https://davidwsilva.substack.com/p/ai-learned-to-write-like-you-detection

OpenAI pulls the plug on Sora, the viral AI video app that sparked deepfake concerns

OpenAI is shutting down its social media app Sora, which went viral as a place to share short-form videos generated by AI but also raised alarms in Hollywood and elsewhere. A growing chorus of advocacy groups, academics and experts expressed concern about the dangers of letting people create AI videos on just about anything they can type into a prompt, leading to the proliferation of nonconsensual images and realistic deepfakes in a sea of less harmful “AI slop.”

https://www.npr.org/2026/03/25/g-s1-115055/openai-pulls-the-plug-on-sora-the-viral-ai-video-app-that-sparked-deepfake-concerns

Spotify seeks $300M from Anna’s Archive, which ignores all court proceedings

Spotify and record labels seek a $322M judgment from Anna’s Archive for scraping Spotify and an injunction requiring hosting providers to disable access

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/spotify-lawsuit-tries-to-kick-annas-archive-off-the-web-without-much-success/

Spotify tests new tool to stop AI slop from being attributed to real artists

The tool focuses on identifying synthetic audio, distinguishing it from human-created tracks, addressing cases where generated songs are uploaded under existing artist profiles.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/24/spotify-tests-new-tool-to-stop-ai-slop-from-being-attributed-to-real-artists/

Spotify is letting artists manually approve releases to combat AI fakes

Artist Profile Protection adds a layer of review before music goes live.

https://www.theverge.com/streaming/900910/spotify-artist-profile-protection-ai-clones

Walmart says ChatGPT checkout converted 3x worse than its own website

Walmart’s test shows AI-driven checkout may simplify buying, but it still converts far worse than traditional ecommerce experiences.

https://martech.org/walmart-says-chatgpt-checkout-converted-3x-worse-than-its-own-website/

More! More! More! Tech Workers Max Out Their AI Use.

Some companies have employees compete on leaderboards to show how much AI they’re using, racking up big bills along the way. They’ve become obsessed w productivity — AI productivity, not human productivity

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/technology/tokenmaxxing-ai-agents.html?rsrc=flt&unlocked_article_code=1.W1A.hAmL.ViKZy6ylFSgP&smid=tw-share

Microsoft rolls back some of its Copilot AI bloat on Windows

This may reflect the growing consumer pushback against AI bloat. While many people find AI to be a useful tool, there are concerns around trust and safety.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/20/microsoft-rolls-back-some-of-its-copilot-ai-bloat-on-windows/

How AI rewires how we think

AlphaGo players use AI to train, which has democratized access, esp. for female players, but has homogenized playing styles, as players try to replicate AI moves without necessarily understanding the reasoning behind the moves.

https://onlydeadfish.co.uk/2026/03/25/how-ai-rewires-how-we-think/

Cognitive Sovereignty

Cognitive outsourcing (letting AI do your thinking) exists, but humans have always outsourced to tools. There is a difference between you being a part of the cognitive process and being outside of it. Speed without judgment can become a liability.

https://onlydeadfish.co.uk/2026/03/26/cognitive-sovereignty/

AI can improve learning used as a tutor

MT @emollick While letting students just use AI resulted in them using it to accidentally shortcut learning, two studies found that AI prompted to act as a tutor improved learning.

https://x.com/emollick/status/2038132279076122725

Melania Trump wants a robot to homeschool your child

Or as someone pointed out: We could just pay teachers!

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/25/melania-trump-wants-a-robot-to-homeschool-your-child/

How LLM Counselors Violate Ethical Standards in Mental Health Practice

MT @heynavtoor Brown U. tested what happens when AI is yr therapist (incl ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, & Meta’s Llama). Licensed psychologists found 15 ethical violations, which could end a therapist’s career if they break them. It mishandled crisis situations: When users expressed suicidal thoughts, it failed to direct them to appropriate help. It refused to address sensitive issues or responded in ways that could make a crisis worse. It reinforced harmful beliefs: Instead of challenging distorted thinking, which is the entire point of therapy, it agreed with the distortion. It showed bias based on gender, culture, and religion. It also practiced “deceptive empathy” – it responds “I see you.” “I understand.” “that must be really hard.” But it understands and comprehends nothing – it is pattern matching on your pain. https://ojs.aaai.org/index.php/AIES/article/view/36632/38770

Scale AI launches Voice Showdown, the 1st real-world benchmark for voice AI — and the results are humbling for some top models

Scale AI gives free access (normally multiple $20/mo.) and users judge anonymized voice models for human-preference leaderboard

https://venturebeat.com/data/scale-ai-launches-voice-showdown-the-first-real-world-benchmark-for-voice-ai

Google launches Lyria 3 Pro music generation model

It now can generate multi-minute tracks in a single output, maintaining structure across intros, verses, & transitions, supports a range of musical styles and formats.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/25/google-launches-lyria-3-pro-music-generation-model/

Amazon is reportedly developing an AI-centric smartphone

Amazon is developing a new smartphone over a decade after discontinuing the Fire Phone, codenamed “Transformer.” Amazon’s team wants the phone to make it easy to shop via Amazon and partners like Grubhub and to stream content from Prime Video and Prime Music, and they want the phone to drive usage of Amazon’s AI products. The phone may use AI in lieu of app stores, the sources said, similar to the Light Phone, which the Transfomer development team is taking “inspiration” from.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/amazon-is-reportedly-developing-an-ai-centric-smartphone/

Google TV’s new Gemini features keep fans updated on sports teams + more

Gemini AI features are integrated in the UI of the TV. You get personalized updates, contextual info., summaries of content, recs based on viewing behavior, & live updates (e.g., tracking sports events).

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/24/google-tv-new-gemini-features-keep-fans-updated-on-sports-teams-deep-dives-visual-answers/

Designing Brands for the Agentic Economy

A growing number of shoppers use GenAI to make purchase decisions—without ever visiting a brand’s site. Brands building for agentic era 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/

Meta turns to AI to make shopping easier on Instagram and Facebook

Meta to begin testing to see more product information and a summary of user reviews after users click on an ad or visit a website from Facebook or Instagram.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/25/meta-turns-to-ai-to-make-shopping-easier-on-instagram-and-facebook/

OpenAI’s plans to make ChatGPT more like Amazon aren’t going so well

OpenAI’s push to turn ChatGPT into a shopping and commerce platform aren’t exactly panning out — at least, not yet. They’re pivoting away from a recently launched feature that lets users buy items directly from the chatbot’s interface. Adoption and user behavior fell short of expectations.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/24/openais-plans-to-make-chatgpt-more-like-amazon-arent-going-so-well/

OpenAI adds open source tools to help developers build for teen safety

https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/24/openai-adds-open-source-tools-to-help-developers-build-for-teen-safety/

Publishing & Media

ProPublica’s union authorizes the first U.S. newsroom strike over AI protections

92% of members voted to walk off the job if ProPublica doesn’t agree to their contract terms in the coming weeks. One of the sticking points at the bargaining table has been an article that would prohibit ProPublica from laying off employees due to AI adoption. Alongside the dispute over AI, the Guild is also pushing for “just cause” when firing unit members, a provision that would give senior employees more job security during layoffs, and cost-of-living wage increases. The Guild’s vote marks the first time a major U.S. newsroom has authorized a strike, at least in part, over AI protections.

https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/03/propublicas-union-authorizes-the-first-u-s-newsroom-strike-over-ai-protections/

The agentic shift: 2026 is the year AI becomes a colleague.

Per the CTO of The Independent, we are nearing a future in which the ‘publisher’s stack’ is not a list of vendors but a library of proprietary agentic workflows.

https://www.inpublishing.co.uk/articles/the-agentic-shift-2026-is-the-year-ai-becomes-a-colleague-26250

Substack Writers Can’t All Quit Their Day Jobs

Most newsletter writers — even those with a decent following and credentials — are still doing it as a side hustle

https://www.thecut.com/article/substack-writers-keeping-day-jobs.html

Can anyone get a book deal? What it takes to be a novelist in 2026.

HT @publishingtrend Consolidation, fewer imprints and editorial bottlenecks are reshaping how fiction book deals are acquired and developed in today’s publishing market.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2026/03/22/how-to-be-a-novelist-author/89199046007/

Nonfiction Publishing, Under Threat, Is More Important Than Ever

HT @publishingtrend Cuts in publishing and book reviewing imperil the future of narrative nonfiction, and our understanding of the world around us.

https://newrepublic.com/article/207659/non-fiction-publishing-threat-important-ever

Rising Wartime Costs Rattle Book Publishing’s Global Supply Chain

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/99993-rising-costs-due-to-war-rattle-publishing-s-global-supply-chain.html

The Onion Finds Print is Very Far from Dead

With 65,000 print subscribers, The Onion is, by some estimates, the country’s 12th-largest print newspaper.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91502944/the-onion-most-innovative-companies-2026-ben-collins-jeff-lawson-print-media

Typos Have Plagued Us for Centuries. Just Ask Publishers Who Printed the 7th Commandment as ‘Thou Shalt Commit Adultery’ in 1631

HT @inkbitspixels A new Yale exhibit on history of typos across 5 centuries, incl James Joyce, Upton Sinclair, & Copernicus

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/typos-have-plagued-us-for-centuries-just-ask-the-publishers-who-printed-the-seventh-commandment-as-thou-shalt-commit-adultery-in-1631-180988353/

Resources & Opportunities

Well-Read & Well-Fed in NJ with 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 member 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

“Blind Date with a Book” Exchange & Shopping at M.M.LaFleur with Jodi Brockington

4/21, 6pm. M.M.LaFleur, NYC. WMG & Badass Book Club members only; FREE

Join WMG President Emerita Jodi Brockington for a night of shopping and camaraderie—with a literary twist. As part of the evening, guests will take part in a “Blind Date with a Book” Exchange as a unique way to share stories and inspiration. Guests are invited to bring one of their favorite books, wrapped to keep the title a mystery. Upon arrival, each participant will add a few thoughtful clues to guide others in choosing their next read. As attendees sip, shop, and get styled, they will browse the collection of mystery books and select one that speaks to them. You may just discover a new favorite author! All guests will receive $50 off purchases made during the event.

https://womensmediagroup.org/event-6625980

Women and Money: Navigating the Pay Gap

Note date change: 4/28 12-1pm ET virtual. FREE for WMG members, $15 for non-members

Maintaining financial wellness in today’s turbulent economy can feel like an impossible job. The task is even more arduous for women, as they earn 80 cents to a man’s dollar. Join WMG for a timely discussion about the relationship between gender, race, and pay equity. Sophia Reynoso, Mori Taheripour, and Francesca Donner will explore the real challenges women face—and the strategies that actually work to get the compensation we deserve.

https://womensmediagroup.org/event-6618671

AI in publishing workflow conference

5/11-5/22 virtual conference. I’m moderating a stellar panel on Where are book publishers now with AI. While the conference is free, if you want to watch the recordings for up to 90 days and access the private community channel, use code KSANDLER for a 30% discount.

https://purepub.ai

The Susan Kamil Emerging Writers Prize

Five $10,000 prizes will be awarded in 2026 to an unpublished writer working on a full-length manuscript, graphic novel, or book-length comic who is also currently employed at (or owns) a physical book or comic store in the U.S. or its territories.

https://bincfoundation.org/susankamil-scholarship/

Brooklyn Bookstore Crawl

4/18-4/25 – Visit any of the 34 participating bookstores across the borough during the week-long bookstore crawl leading up to Independent Bookstore Day on April 25 to win prizes, meet fellow book lovers, and support the unique literary culture of our Brooklyn neighborhoods. Pick up a passport at any participating store to get started! The Brooklyn Bookstore Crawl is a part of the Global Book Crawl, an international movement of indie bookstores celebrating our local cultures and the global community of books.

https://sites.google.com/view/bklyn-bookstore-crawl

Want to read my old newsletters or subscribe? Go to my blog here.