AI Real Talk Series: Should News Organizations Date AI Companies?
We've been down this road before — tech loves us, courts us, funds us, and then ghosts us. Will it be the same with big AI companies, or will it be different this time?
Explore how lessons learned from journalism's partnerships with tech companies like Google, Meta and Twitter that can inform successful collaborations with AI companies today.
Speakers
Benjamin Wagner is a consultant, creative, and founder of Essential Industries, a boutique consulting firm specializing in individual and organizational strategy, transformation, and communication. From his half-decade helping launch Facebook’s Journalism Project globally to his tenure helping transform MTV News and award-winning PBS documentary, Mister Rogers & Me, Benjamin's focus is the essential nature of our shared human experience.
Madhav Chinnappa is a senior executive consultant who has worked at the intersection of news, technology, AI and sustainability globally for more than two decades in both the commercial and public service sectors. He has extensive experience with journalism funding and sustainability having launched the DNI Fund, the GNI Innovation Challenge programme and the Journalism Emergency Relief Fund while at Google. He has worked in the news industry since 1994 - first in the launch team of Associated Press Television (APTV), a year in M&A at United News & Media and spent over 9 years at BBC News, latterly as Head of Development & Rights. He is currently the fractional VP of Partnerships for Human Native AI as well as leading a thought leadership event series around AI and news for the Thomson Foundation.
Niketa Patel is the Senior Director of Leadership Programs at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. She previously served as the Senior Director of Partnerships at The 19th and led Print and Digital News Partnerships in the US for Twitter, where she collaborated with newsrooms on strategic initiatives and product adoption. She is Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Online News Association and is actively involved in ONA, AAJA, and SAJA.