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When people talk about how AI might reshape media, the term hyper-personalization comes up a lot. In broad terms, it means that AI can tailor the experience around your preferencesassuming it has enough data about you. To some extent, algorithms and ad tech have been doing this for years, recommending links and stories based on your clicks and browsing behavior. What generative AI brings to the table is the ability to adapt the content itself. A large language model could, in theory, understand the kinds of stories I care about and modify what Im readingmaybe by adding an angle relevant to my region. It could even offer up different lengths or even formats. If I’m about to go for a run, maybe I want that feature article as a podcast. Or if Im in a hurry, a short video in TikTok style might do. But this frames AI as a kind of Santa Claus: a magical benefactor dropping content “presents” on demand. In the AI courses I teach, I often explain that a key unlock of AI is that, once you use it enough, you start to realize the value is often more in the conversationthe questions you ask and the answers it givesthan the so-called output. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/03\/mediacopilot-logo-ss.png","headline":"Media CoPilot","description":"Want more about how AI is changing media? Never miss an update from Pete Pachal by signing up for Media CoPilot. To learn more visit mediacopilot.substack.com","substackDomain":"https:\/\/mediacopilot.substack.com\/","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}} Verbal features such as ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice Mode are ideal for this. If you haven’t engaged in a brainstorming session while driving or walking, you’re missing out. AI can be an excellent brainstorming partner when you need to think through something. Even better: it can be a superb writing assistant, helping you develop ideas, stay on track, and fill in the holes in your argumentswithout taking over the writing itself. Rethinking how we read the news Now apply that same idea to how we consume news. When you hit a point in the story you’re reading where you want to go deeper, you can instantly do that. If, say, you were reading a story about bringing the dire wolf back from extinction, you could ask about whether the same technique could be applied to other extinct species, how ethicists are responding, or how the news is affecting the biotech sector. The AI could bring in all that context without needing to “navigate” anything. Were already seeing early signs of this behavior. On X, for example, people often tag Groka chatbot built into the platformto ask follow-up questions about trending stories. Its a small but telling behavior: instead of passively reading the news, users are instinctively treating it as a jumping-off point for a deeper conversation. Most news stories aim to deliver the latest facts, often with only a perfunctory amount of backgroundusually tucked into a paragraph or two at the end. For exotic topics like crypto, this often leaves the subject impenetrable to casual readers. With AI, however, a news story can be a conversationone that explains things at exactly your level. In other words, the most powerful personalization tool isnt dataits your words. This is the eureka moment in Joshua Rothman’s recent New Yorker essay that contemplates how AI might improve the news. The only catch? It requires a mindset shiftfrom AI giving you things to AI helping you discover things for yourself. There needs to be some education in the use of AI on the part of the reader. AI still needs a map But for that vision of AI and news to work, context is everything: In other words, the machines still need a map. For AI to bring you the absolute best information for whatever news rabbit hole you want to go down, you need a data set that’s oriented towards news topics. The massive data sets in today’s large language models are probably overkill, since they bring noise or generic knowledge when specificity is whats needed. However, restricting the context to just the stories on the site you’re reading would be too limiting. A better idea would be something like a “general news corpus” of vetted sources that publishers could opt into, which other sites could access to bring a wide-ranging context into their AI experiences. ProRata and NewsGuard are building these kinds of products, but their best use case might not be general search engines like Perplexity or ProRata’s own Gist. Context is arguably more important when a reader has already clicked on an article and begun to go down a path. With AI, that path doesn’t have to be on railsthe reader can go in any direction, and the right context will follow. The most compelling thing about this vision of personalized news is that it doesn’t require Big Tech to be part of it, at least outside of building the large language models themselves. Journalists provide the raw information, product designers can build the experiences, and third-party content brokers assemble the context. Participation, not prediction For the past two decades, media organizations have optimized their platforms by trying to anticipate what audiences would respond to. But AI may be rendering that approach obsolete. Imagine a news experience where every reader gets the background they need, the angles they care about, and the context to go deeperall just by asking. Thats not personalization by prediction. Thats personalization by participation. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/03\/mediacopilot-logo-ss.png","headline":"Media CoPilot","description":"Want more about how AI is changing media? Never miss an update from Pete Pachal by signing up for Media CoPilot. To learn more visit mediacopilot.substack.com","substackDomain":"https:\/\/mediacopilot.substack.com\/","colorTheme":"blue","redirectUrl":""}}
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E-Commerce
Meta is set to face off against the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Monday in an antitrust trial that could force the social media giant to divest Instagram and WhatsApp. The closely watched trial carries high stakes for Metas $1.3 trillion market value. The company depends heavily on advertising revenue from Instagram, and losing control of the platform could deal a significant blow to its business. Here’s what to know about the FTC trial. The case focuses on decade-old acquisitions Meta acquired Instagram for $1 billion in 2012 and WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014. The government argues that Meta didnt buy these companies for their products or technology, but rather to eliminate potential competition. Prosecutors say it reflects CEO Mark Zuckerbergs well-known strategy of buying rivals instead of competing with them. “Acquiring these competitive threats has enabled Facebook to sustain its dominanceto the detriment of competition and usersnot by competing on the merits, but by avoiding competition,” the FTC wrote in a complaint. That strategy, they allege, has led to a decrease in quality of Meta’s products. The government wants Meta to divest Instagram and WhatsApp The FTC wants Meta to breakup with Instagram and WhatsApp. That would mean the tech giant would have to spin off the two highly popular platforms into their own companies. Such a move could be detrimental to its broader advertising business. Instagram this year is expected to bring in more than half of Meta’s total U.S. ad revenue, or more than $32 billion, Adweek reported. Meta is standing its ground To no surprise, Meta is maintaining its innocence. The FTCs lawsuit against Meta defies reality, Meta said in a statement shared with Fast Company. The evidence at trial will show what every 17-year-old in the world knows: Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp compete with Chinese-owned TikTok, YouTube, X, iMessage and many others. More than 10 years after the FTC reviewed and cleared our acquisitions, the Commissions action in this case sends the message that no deal is ever truly final. Regulators should be supporting American innovation, rather than seeking to break up a great American company and further advantaging China on critical issues like AI. The case is being tried before a familiar judge The FTC first brought this case before the courts in 2020. But Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court in Washington dismissed it, saying that the government didn’t have enough evidence. The agency amended its suit in 2022 and Boasberg allowed it to move forward. Boasberg is already a well known judge among the public during this second Trump administration. He’s presiding over both the White House’s deportations to Venezuela and the fallout of top U.S. officials and advisors discussing imminent war plans over the Signal messaging app. Meta recently met with Trump Meta has reportedly been lobbying President Donald Trump and other White House officials to agree to a settlement ahead of the trial. The Wall Street Journal reported that Zuckerberg has visited the White House a handful of times since Trump’s inauguration. Former FTC leader Lina Khan expressed concerns in January that she hoped the Trump administration wouldn’t give Meta a “sweetheart deal.”
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E-Commerce
If youve talked to any senior citizens lately, theres a good chance theyve brought up their concerns about looming changes to the anti-fraud policies of the Social Security Administration (SSA). Many seniors are worried that the changes may mean that they will stop receiving their Social Security payments, or that there could be a delay in receiving them. The messaging around Social Security’s anti-fraud changes has been a bit confusing, not to mention constantly evolving. Heres what you need to know about the latest information available. Whats happened? As Fast Company reported last month, the Trump administration is implementing changes to the SSA’s anti-fraud policies. At the time, it was stated that from March 31, any individuals who began a Social Security benefits claim would be required to travel to a Social Security Administration office to verify their identity in person. This raised grave concerns from lawmakers and senior citizen rights groups since some seniors either have mobility issues, which make it hard to travel, or they live in rural areas, meaning they would need to travel great distances just to verify their identity. After significant public blowback to the requirement, the Trump administration backtracked. In a March 26 statement, the Social Security Administration said it was exempting individuals applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Medicare, or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) who cannot use a personal my Social Security account from the in-person requirement, allowing them to complete their claim over the phone. But some other individuals would still need to appear in person at an office to verify their identity, including those who need to change their direct deposit information for any benefit if they could not use the online “my Social Security” portal. However, the SSA moved the date back two weeks, from March 31 to April 14. The rules have changedagain Yet now the SSA has announced further changes, likely due to continued concerns from lawmakers and the public. While the April 14 datenext Mondaystill holds, not everyone who was originally required to appear in person will now have to, reports NPR. Individuals will now still be able to apply for certain changes over the phone. However, if those individuals are flagged for anti-fraud checks, they will then need to appear in person at a SSA office. According to an unnamed White House official who spoke with NPR, the change was made because the SSA anti-fraud team implemented new technological capabilities so quickly. What the new changes mean For now, the bottom line appears to be a less strict stance: From April 14, most people will still be able to manage their Social Security accounts online and on the phone. However, you may still be flagged with a fraud alert. If that happens, you will then need to appear in person at an SSA office. As the SSA posted on its official X account on April 8: Beginning on April 14, #SocialSecurity will perform an anti-fraud check on all claims filed over the telephone and flag claims that have fraud risk indicators. In a follow-up post, the agency said that Individuals that are flagged would be required to perform in-person ID proofing for the claim to be further processed, adding that Individuals who are not flagged will be able to complete their claim without any in-person requirements. Addressing the administrations reversal of its policy, Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, told NPR that the change was “a victory for Social Security beneficiaries across the country. He went on to say, “The Trump administration did not change the policy out of the goodness of their hearts. They responded to public pressure. The reversal will be welcome to the millions of American senior citizens who rely on their Social Security payments to pay the bills. But its understandable that the chaotic nature and messaging surrounding the changes have caused so much alarm.
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E-Commerce
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