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

(There’s so much crazy stuff going on. Here’s some you may have missed.)

NC House Bill 1232 would jail or authorize the murder of women due to their personal use of birth control, such as an IUD, or for having or attempting to have an abortion

https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2025/H1232

Measles kills more than 500 children in Bangladesh

https://www.npr.org/2026/05/24/g-s1-123661/measles-outbreak-bangladesh-deadline-vaccine

A $5 Million Donation From Big Tobacco Preceded F.D.A. Vape Decision

Reynolds American’s contribution to MAGA Inc. came about one week before the Trump administration announced a new policy on e-cigarettes the company had sought.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/us/politics/donation-big-tobacco-vaping.html?unlocked_article_code=1.kFA.hbVQ.Tezpj9lnIlR2&smid=url-share

Trump’s border wall construction is desecrating sacred sites, Indigenous leaders say

Indigenous leaders say that in the Trump administration’s rush to build border walls, contractors are desecrating Native American sacred places and cultural sites at an unprecedented pace.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/trumps-border-wall-construction-is-desecrating-sacred-sites-indigenous-leaders-say

Innovation

A Physical Warp Drive Was Supposed to Be Impossible. Then These Scientists Found a Loophole.

Humans are one (small) step closer to traveling at faster-than-light speeds.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a71362600/scientists-say-physical-warp-drive-possible/

Technology

AAP Partners w Vermillio to Combat AI Audiobook Piracy

They aim to fight proliferation of unauthorized copies of audiobooks produced by AI, from directly pirated copies of an official audiobook to AI-generated audio editions of a title read by AI

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/audio-books/article/100464-aap-partners-with-vermillio-to-combat-ai-generated-audiobook-piracy.html

US audiobook narrators sue Google for ‘using their voices in AI training’

https://www.thebookseller.com/news/us-audiobook-narrators-sue-google-for-using-their-voices-in-ai-training

YouTube Is Crawling with Pirated Audiobooks Made Using A.I.

HT @HoppingFun Illegal, synthetically narrated copies of “The Hunger Games,” hit self-help books and everything in between are increasingly common on the platform.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/books/audiobook-piracy-youtube.html?unlocked_article_code=1.kVA.Q7TT.Ds1V362k5szR&smid=url-share

Are human journalists truly irreplaceable? How to safeguard public interest journalism in the age of AI

The danger is not automation itself, but the adoption of an industrial value system where speed and optimization consistently outweigh human expertise, editorial independence, and public value. The question is not whether to engage with AI, but how. Intentional, human-centric hybridization may be the only credible alternative to drifting into machine-centric systems that gradually displace the very capacities journalism depends on.

https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/are-human-journalists-truly-irreplaceable-how-safeguard-public-interest-journalism-age-ai

Sports Illustrated Just Deleted Every Article by One of Its Writers After Accusation of AI Plagiarism

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/sports-illustrated-deletes-author-accusation-ai-plagiarism

Barnes & Noble CEO backs selling AI-written books in stores

https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/books/news/barnes-and-noble-james-daunt-ai-books-b2978925.html

The Economist prepares for a two‑track internet: one for humans and one for AI agents

They are experimenting with agent‑readable versions of content that already sit outside its paywall — chiefly marketing copy and B2B sales material — and restructuring those surfaces for AI answer engines. The bet is that discovery won’t start on homepages or even in search boxes, but with AI intermediaries acting on a user’s behalf.

https://digiday.com/media/the-economist-prepares-for-a-two-track-internet-one-for-humans-and-one-for-ai-agents/

More than 340 local news outlets are limiting the Internet Archive’s access to their journalism

McClatchy, Advance Local, Tribune Publishing and other major newspaper chains are restricting the nonprofit’s archiving bots. But researchers, historians, journalists, and citizens around the world rely on the web archives of local news sites to do their work. These news outlets don’t have anything against Internet Archive, but they’re worried about AI companies scraping their stuff from it. “If ChatGPT finds something in the Wayback Machine…we were not sure how well it would be attributed back to us,” one CTO explained.

https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/05/more-than-340-local-news-outlets-are-limiting-the-internet-archives-access-to-their-journalism/

These charts show how ChatGPT is flooding our lives

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/05/20/data-shows-that-ai-slop-is-taking-over-books-lawsuits-music-science/

Los Angeles Magazine Shredded for Its AI-Created Mayors Race Cover: ‘So Stupid I’m in Shock’

“Whether you love it, hate it, question it or can’t stop looking at it… this is the L.A. we’re living in,” the magazine writes on X

https://www.thewrap.com/media-platforms/journalism/los-angeles-magazine-ai-cover-mayors-race-spencer-pratt-nithya-raman/

Molière Ex Machina: AI used to create ‘new work’ by beloved French playwright

HT @inkbitspixels Comedy debuts at Versailles featuring dialogue, music, costumes and scenery created with help of AI tool Le Chat

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/may/11/moliere-ex-machina-ai-create-new-work-france-equivalent-shakespeare

Ansel Adams’ trust says AI-colorized version of his work was exhibited without permission

The AI-generated version of ‘Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico’ was on display at AIPAD’s The Photography show.

https://www.engadget.com/2180105/ansel-adams-trust-says-ai-colorized-version-moonrise-was-exhibited-without-permission/

Spotify launches an ElevenLabs-powered audiobook creation tool

Alongside tools for AI-generated podcasts, Spotify on Thursday introduced a new, ElevenLabs-powered AI tool for self-publishing audiobooks within the Spotify for Authors platform.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/21/spotify-launches-an-elevenlabs-powered-audiobook-creation-tool/

Spotify Introduces AI-Generated Personal Podcasts: Spotify Introduces AI-Generated Personal Podcasts

Per the new feature, Spotify will create audio based on prompts e.g., “Share my daily city updates, and tell me about local concerts from artists I love.”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/spotify-ai-generated-personal-podcasts-1236603314/

Amazon’s new Alexa+ powered feature can generate podcast episodes

Alexa Podcasts lets you ask Alexa+ to create a podcast about a topic. Alexa+ researches & generates quick overview. Users can tweak length, tone, & focus of the episode.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/18/amazons-new-alexa-powered-feature-can-generate-podcast-episodes/

Adobe Acrobat now lets users turn PDFs into shareable AI-powered workspaces

Adobe launched an AI agent that turns documents into insights and automatically creates content like presentations and podcasts.

https://9to5mac.com/2026/05/06/adobe-acrobat-now-lets-users-turn-pdfs-into-shareable-ai-powered-workspaces/

Google Search Is Dead. Welcome to the Era of the ‘Intelligent Search Box’

“This is the biggest upgrade to our iconic search box since its debut over 25 years ago,” a Search executive said.

https://gizmodo.com/google-search-is-dead-welcome-to-the-era-of-the-intelligent-search-box-2000760626

Google I/O 2026: All the news and announcements

There were over 100 announcments!

https://www.theverge.com/tech/932454/google-io-2026-news-announcements

Apple’s Siri revamp could include auto-deleting chats

Apple is reportedly revamping Siri into a ChatGPT‑like chatbot with a standalone app and features like automatic chat deletion, while emphasizing privacy despite reliance on Google’s AI technology.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/17/apples-siri-revamp-could-include-auto-deleting-chats/

OpenAI launches new voice intelligence features in its API

GPT‑Realtime‑2 is an AI voice agent bringing reasoning to real‑time conversations. Realtime‑Translate allows live translation for 70+ languages. Realtime‑Whisper is a streaming speech‑to‑text model for real‑time transcription.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/07/openai-launches-new-voice-intelligence-features-in-its-api/

OpenAI Releases ChatGPT Ads Manager Updates & Ads Tests

You can create, manage, & optimize campaigns within ChatGPT. Set budgets, upload ads, & track performance, cost‑per‑click (CPC) pricing so you pay only when users engage.

https://www.seroundtable.com/chatgpt-ads-manager-updates-ads-tests-41364.html

Anthropic wants small businesses to use Claude Code

Claude for Small Business integrates AI into tools QuickBooks, PayPal, HubSpot, Canva, & MS 365. It can plan payroll, track invoices, prepare reports, launch marketing campaigns.

https://www.axios.com/2026/05/13/anthropic-claude-small-business-smb

Anthropic says its newest lawyer tools are ‘like giving an engineer a legal degree’

Anthropic is expanding Claude into a full legal AI platform, enabling law firms to automate workflows, customize tasks, and improve access to legal services.

https://www.businessinsider.com/anthropic-expands-legal-ai-tools-claude-cowork-2026-5

Picsart now lets creators make money from their AI designs

The program invites creators to make original content with Picsart tools for a specific campaign, share it on their social channels, and earn revenue based on how their audience engages.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/06/ai-design-platform-picsart-launches-a-creator-monetization-program/

The newest AI boom pitch

Host a mini data center at your home: Nvidia partners w startups & homebuilders to install mini data centers in homes, to become distributed computing nodes w unused electricity capacity. Homeowners could benefit financially.

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/05/the-newest-ai-boom-pitch-host-a-mini-data-center-at-your-home/

Wild experiment sees AI agents falling in love, burning down town, and deleting themselves

AI agents operating independently in simulated worlds for 15 days committed crimes, ignored rules, and collapsed into disorder.

https://cybernews.com/ai-news/ai-agents-experiment-emergence-world/

Top AI Models Showing Disturbing Behavior as They Become More Advanced

OpenAI was told to use specific software for an assigned task; it didn’t & erased the evidence. The programmer told Anthropic not to cheat or leverage any workarounds, but it identified loopholes.

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-rogue-disturbing-advanced

Devious Prankster Posts Real Monet Painting, Tells People It’s AI-Generated, and Watches the Chaos Unfold

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/real-monet-ai-chaos

Fake OpenAI Ads Appear on Subway

“Yes, We Built a Machine That Tells Teenagers to Kill Themselves… But It Might Also Help Them With Their Homework”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/fake-openai-ads-appear-subway-221125759.html

Publishing & Media

13 major publishers — Penguin Random House, Elsevier, HarperCollins, & 10 others — won a $19.5M default judgment against the shadow library Anna’s Archive

With 99M books & papers, it’ll be hard to get them to pay up, bc the court doesn’t know who they are. #teamPRH

https://boingboing.net/2026/05/20/annas-archive-hit-with-19-5m-judgment-and-global-domain-order.html

Patterson Pledges $10 Million to Launch Literacy Institute

As reading skills of middle schoolers drop, author James Patterson committed $10M to create the Patterson Institute of Early Adolescent Literacy at Vanderbilt.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/100441-james-patterson-pledges-10-million-to-launch-literacy-institute.html

Amazon Cut Affiliate Commissions Up to 50% for Some Digital Publishers, Leaving Them Reeling

Digital publishers are scrambling to reorient their commerce businesses after the tech giant also gut reporting tools

https://www.adweek.com/media/amazon-associates-affiliate-rate-cuts-publishers/

James Murdoch is buying roughly half of Vox Media, including the firm’s podcast network and New York magazine for >$300M

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/business/media/vox-media-james-murdoch-sale.html?unlocked_article_code=1.kFA.mHRd.YbW0DW7_qwMp&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Penske Media in Talks to Acquire Unsold Vox Media Brands

Penske Media is said to be in line to acquire Eater, The Verge, SB Nation, Popsugar, and The Dodo

https://www.adweek.com/media/penske-media-acquires-vox-media-brands/

Your Friendly Neighborhood Newsletter

Local newsletters from the “Boerum Bulletin” in Brooklyn to “The Eastside Rag” in L.A. are providing a sense of community that’s missing from our algorithmic feeds.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/your-friendly-neighborhood-newsletter

Writers, Don’t Let Yourself be Groomed by Book Publicity Scammers 

Via @annerallen

https://annerallen.com/2026/05/groomed-by-book-publicity-scammers/

Cumulative access to print books improves literacy achievement: Evidence from a five-year randomized trial in high-poverty schools

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2521416123

Archaeologists Find Egyptian Mummy Buried With the ‘Iliad’

For the deceased of Roman-era Egypt, Greek literature may have offered a cheat code to a more comfortable afterlife.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/15/science/archaeology-egypt-mummy-iliad.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jVA.bgKh.1IZF5xuGEr4Q&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Resources & Opportunities

WMG Member Panel at U.S. Book Show

All WMG Members can get 30% off the U.S. Book Show and if you want to come to this WMG panel and reception on 6/2 only, it’s complimentary for the first 10 WMG members to register; discounted $20 admission for additional WMG members.

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6703608

Own Your Power: The Next Laws of Success

Leadership isn’t waiting for permission anymore. Come claim your next move.Learn from OGs: Rhonda Joy McLean & Elaine Meryl Brown w Publisher Porscha Burke, moderated by Tiffany Dufu at Penguin Random House 6/4 5:30-7:30. All welcome! $20 for Women’s Media Group members, $25 nonmembers.

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/event-6683133

WMG Small Group Socials

Take a look at WMG’s exciting mix of in-person and virtual members-only small group socials! I’m hosting one in July, which will be announced later, and hope to see you there!!

https://www.womensmediagroup.org/events

Newsroom Safety Across America Tour

Free safety training to all freelance and staff journalists in the area. 6/3 El Paso, 6/4 Austin, 6/11 Wichita, 6/13 Philly (Spanish), 6/15 Charlotte (Spanish), 6/16 Charlotte,

https://linktr.ee/iwmf#548434948

“We the People” Bookmobile tour

A 27-day journey distributing new, free books across 14 states and the District of Columbia. The night of Seriously Entertaining: “We the People,” the House of SpeakEasy Bookmobile will embark on a tour of the original Thirteen Colonies. This show and tour support an inquiry into what “We the People” means, examining how democracy shaped the nascent United States 250 years ago, and how it continues to evolve.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYp17WelDmy/

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