Everyone Gets an AI Agent By Nieman Lab
In the near future, every content consumer, creator, and newsroom will have an AI agent that works for them, changing the way we find and interact with information. These agents will help filter and analyze content, protect users’ time and wellbeing, and tailor information to individual needs. Newsrooms will use AI agents to serve personalized content and experiment with new formats. Monetizing content may be a challenge, but subscription models and alternative revenue streams like donations may be explored. A focus on open source AI and competition will be important to avoid relying on a single gatekeeper.
Highlights
An agent is a software program that acts on behalf of a person or a party. The most important thing to know about any agent is who it serves.
It’s possible that generative AI overthrows current gatekeepers and becomes the new one. But I believe there is a narrow path for a reset, where we level the playing field. In this future, every individual and every newsroom has an AI agent that only serves them.
My agent’s top priority will be to protect my time and wellbeing. Much of the internet provokes and manipulates. In the future, most content will be written by bots. My agent will work with your newsroom agent to help me cut through the noise and discover, filter, read, analyze, fact-check, refute, summarize, and recommend — all while I sleep.
Over time, newsrooms will move away from publishing specific formats on deadline and towards becoming modular information services.
If we want to avoid crowning a new AI gatekeeper, we need choice and competition. This is where open source excels