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Clare Spencer

@clarespencer.bsky.social
940 followers 340 following 836 posts

Reporter for generative-ai-newsroom.com covering how news organizations use generative AI.

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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I want to focus on this research which claims GenAI search can help pop the filter bubble. But my full attention is diverted to the fact that all four researchers have the same surname. What are the odds?
arxiv.org
Breaking News Out of the Filter Bubble: Generative AI Search Diversifies Collective Attention and Raises Shared Information Consumption
Generative AI search and AI overviews are transforming access to information and news, renewing concerns that readers will encounter a narrower range of topics and have less in common. We examine thes...
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Maggie Harrison Dupré @mharrisondupre.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
NEW: Brown Brothers Media — the vast content network scaled through the heavy use of AI + fake writers w/ fabricated credentials — has halted publishing amid what appears to be a Google crackdown on many of its sites. BBM may have been earning 64m+ readers per month. futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com
That Company That Buys Struggling News Sites and Turns Them Into AI-Powered Content Mills Has Halted Publishing After a Futurism Investigation
Brown Brothers Media has halted publication at its wide-ranging AI-powered content farm empire -- for now, at least.
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404 Media @404media.co · 30/09/2026
"Do you watch the news? Do you listen to the radio? Do you read anything about what's going on in the world?” one of the judges asked the lawyer, who submitted false testimony and witnesses after using ChatGPT.
404media.co
Lawyer Cites ChatGPT-Invented Fake Witnesses in Murder Appeal
"Do you watch the news? Do you listen to the radio? Do you read anything about what's going on in the world?” one of the judges asked the lawyer, who submitted false testimony and witnesses after using...
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"the rapid influx of generative AI into the digital world threatens to turn the whole internet into an AI-fueled zombie shell of itself, scrambling the information ecosystem and making the web both more personalized and less real than ever"
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I love this line by @mharrisondupre.bsky.social: "Of course, it’s theoretically possible that the new Cambridge Analytica is plagiarizing the old-fashioned way, by hiring humans to do it. But its content is chock-full of oddities that point directly to AI-generated text."
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
The question of if AI makes us dumber depends on how we use it, says this article:
nytimes.com
Will A.I. Make Your Brain Lazy?
We’re starting to learn more about how the technology can change us.
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Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
A federal appeals court has ruled in favor of Thomson Reuters, upholding its landmark copyright victory over the AI startup Ross Intelligence. It's the first time a U.S. circuit judge has ruled on fair-use arguments in an AI copyright case. www.niemanlab.org/2026/09/fede...
niemanlab.org
Federal appeals court upholds Thomson Reuters’ landmark AI copyright win
On Tuesday, a U.S. federal appeals court ruled in favor of Thomson Reuters, upholding the company's landmark win in a copyright infringement case against the now-defunct legal AI startup Ross Intellig...
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Maggie Harrison Dupré @mharrisondupre.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Meanwhile, Cambridge Analytica's former website is now an AI slop/plagiarism farm futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com
Someone Has Brought Cambridge Analytica Back as a Zombie Slop Farm
Cambridge Analytica has returned, in a very 2026 way: CambridgeAnalytica.org is now an AI-powered content farm.
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
“Dewey, an AI chatbot that helps reporters dig through the newspaper’s digitized archives… has been used by…crime reporters digging into an Olney neighborhood home linked to several missing persons,” writes @andrewdeck.bsky.social
niemanlab.org
OpenAI doubles support for Lenfest’s AI and local news fellowships
With an additional $10 million in program funding, the Lenfest Institute will consider new applicants in local TV news and statewide public service journalism.
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jon christian @jonchristian.net · 28/09/2026
NEW: After we published an investigation into Brown Brothers Media, a company that buys struggling news sites and turns them into AI-powered content mills, we got a tip that completely gobsmacked me: one of the brothers has extensive connections to Ghislaine Maxwell futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com
You Know Those Three Brothers Who Buy Struggling News Sites and Turn Them Into AI-Powered Content Farms? It Turns Out One of Them Has Extensive Connections to Ghislaine Maxwell
Ideapod, a cornerstone brand of Brown Brothers Media's AI empire, has deep ties to convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
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Maggie Harrison Dupré @mharrisondupre.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
NEW: Justin Brown, a cofounder of the AI slop empire Brown Brothers Media, has deep ties to convicted sex criminal and Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell promoted Brown's failed social media platform Ideapod -- which is still a publisher in BBM's portfolio: futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com
You Know Those Three Brothers Who Buy Struggling News Sites and Turn Them Into AI-Powered Content Farms? It Turns Out One of Them Has Extensive Connections to Ghislaine Maxwell
Ideapod, a cornerstone brand of Brown Brothers Media's AI empire, has deep ties to convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Who here knows about these signs at WBEZ and could tell me who made them, who they are aimed at and why now?
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Do you know what would be a cool tool? (Once privacy issues are ironed out). Something that listens to me talk to people and then politely reminds me that I have already told that person that anecdote.
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
An artefact of 2026 from a cafe near me in Chicago.
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
This part of @mharrisondupre.bsky.social and @jonchristian.net's expose of an AI slop publisher has stayed with me: Google could take away their motivation to carry on polluting the internet with this word soup. But they haven't. futurism.com/artificial-i...
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Tony Elkins @tonyelkins.com · 21/09/2026
Who needs real Indigenous voices when you can just have AI create them? This is truly, truly, fucked. I don't have a better way to say it. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
‘Very harmful’: website uses AI to generate northern Indigenous news ‘correspondents’ | CBC News
The website WE NEWS has three northern Indigenous 'AI correspondents.' Their profiles say they are 'a member of Yukon First Nation,' 'of Dene heritage,' and 'an Inuk raised in the North.' Experts in t...
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Nieman Lab @niemanlab.org · 18/09/2026
“Respondents showed clear distrust of AI in the news-gathering process. Discomfort with AI was widespread.” buff.ly/9DpplnF
buff.ly
News consumers are wary of most AI use in local news, a Chicago-based report finds
Local news providers weighing AI use in the newsroom should think twice, according to a new survey from the Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern. "The Medill survey provides a warning to news…
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
@robwaugh.bsky.social writes
pressgazette.co.uk
Prominent art therapist quoted by Vice, Forbes and others is AI-generated
Expert in residence for art materials website is widely-quoted psychology expert.
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Michael Savage @michaelsavage.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Wow... big story in the battle between news companies and AI model scraping... check out these quotes - from unsealed court docs. The action is against Microsoft and OpenAI. 😮
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Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 18/09/2026
admissions! get your admissions here!! www.niemanlab.org/2026/09/an-a...
niemanlab.org
“An astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions”: Court records show what Microsoft and OpenAI actually thought about AI training
Would you call large language models training on an internet's worth of content "an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions"? Or perhaps you prefer the "largest theft of labor in human history"...
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
@andrewdeck.bsky.social has taken a look at @swapneel.bsky.social’s social listening tool Arbiter. “It helps us see certain narratives that are not popular now, but may become popular later”, one user told Deck. www.niemanlab.org/2026/09/two-...
niemanlab.org
Two years ago, Meta killed CrowdTangle. Can a new AI tool fill the void?
Arbiter uses large language models and AI agents to help journalists see the next harmful narrative on social media before it peaks.
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Dave Lee @davelee.me · 17/09/2026
this is excellent news
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
“A senior executive at Microsoft believes A.I. systems built on the work of others will be seen as “an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions” and possibly the greatest robbery of labor in human history, according to court documents unredacted Thursday in an ongoing Manhattan lawsuit.”
nydailynews.com
New docs in A.I. copyright suit reveal startling admission by Microsoft exec over ‘astonishing theft’
A Microsoft executive’s startling admission appeared in a newly unredacted filing in the landmark copyright infringement legal battle playing out between newspapers like the Daily News and The New Yor...
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Maggie Harrison Dupré @mharrisondupre.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
NEW: Brown Brothers Media is the most successful media company you've never heard of. For years, its success was fueled by AI, fake writers, and fake reporting. When we started asking questions, BBM started mass-deleting content. Somehow, what came next was even worse. futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com
How Three Brothers Built an AI Slop Empire by Buying Legitimate News Sites and Turning Them Into Zombie Content Farms That They Say Get 50 Million Page Views per Month
Brown Brothers Media is a media empire raking in millions of clicks with AI, fake writers, and plagiarism.
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Press Gazette @pressgazette.co.uk · 17/09/2026
A local reporter took issue with the use of her byline while she was away on a story she hadn’t written The byline has been replaced with “Cleveland.com Express Desk” which “uses AI tools to assist in producing content, which is reviewed and edited by staff” pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/d...
pressgazette.co.uk
AI in journalism: Live tracker of scandals and mistakes
AI in journalism: Live tracker of mistakes and mishaps from the Mississippe Free Press to the New York Times.
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The part of the discussion on AI safety that has interested me is how the discussion this time round has spread in society.
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Press Gazette @pressgazette.co.uk · 14/09/2026
Google is testing paying publishers when their content "contributes significantly" to AI answers in Gemini, AI Overviews and AI Mode. Google has been described as "extremely collaborative" but one critic said it delivered "peanuts" compared to previous ad revenue digiday.com/media/google...
digiday.com
Google rolls out pay-per-value AI licensing program to publishers
Google has been quietly scaling a pay-per-value AI licensing scheme for publishers. Though some critics are skeptical of its
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Nieman Lab @niemanlab.org · 09/09/2026
Apple launches a new way to prove a photo was shot with an iPhone (not generated by AI) www.niemanlab.org/2026/09/appl...
niemanlab.org
Apple launches a new way to prove a photo was shot with an iPhone (not generated by AI)
At its annual iPhonepalooza today, Apple announced a new feature aimed at making it easier to know where an image came from or whether it's been edited — the sort of provenance data that could be…
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
The Guardian spoke to a graphic designer, illustrator, writer and video editor who all said they are being inundated with work to correct AI slop
theguardian.com
Freelancers are getting buried with ‘soulless’ AI slop cleanup: ‘It’s a shame we need to do it’
As more companies turn to AI, they’re hiring freelancers to cleanup its mistakes rather than create original work
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
@naominix.bsky.social and @manisha.bsky.social join time to cover AI
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Blake Montgomery @montgomery.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
The Guardian's tech team is starting a regular advice column as part of our yearlong series on AI and work. What do you want to know about AI and your job? Ask us! Email techscape.us@theguardian.com with your questions, and we’ll answer them in future editions of the newsletter
theguardian.com
Conservatives split from Silicon Valley allies as datacenter backlash grows
Tech companies have underestimated the opposition to energy-hungry datacenters – and experts predict the pushback will intensify
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Thomson Reuters has built a large language model. They say it is "purpose-built for legal, tax, and regulatory work where accuracy, consistency, and auditability aren't optional."
thomsonreuters.com
Thomson: a purpose-built foundation model for professionals
Explore Thomson, Thomson Reuters own large language model – a specialized foundation model purpose-built for legal, tax, and regulatory work.
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
The Online Journalism Awards body has announced their nominees. The nominees for the excellence in AI innovation category include the obituary curation, translation, accessing police records and monitoring podcasts.
awards.journalists.org
2026 Online Journalism Awards Winners
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
The New York Times publisher, has been named as one of this year’s Time 100 AI - an annual list recognizing the most influential people in AI - for calling out the damage AI companies are doing to the news business model.
time.com
TIME100 AI 2026: A.G. Sulzberger
Find out why A.G. Sulzberger made TIME’s list of the most influential people in artificial intelligence
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Whether or not a writer can use AI feels a little like whether you take out your laptop out of your bag at airport security. It’s different in every airport.
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
“of course I used AI… I’m not embarrassed by it … I write everything using AI now for the same reason I use a calculator when I do math problems.”
notus.org
Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller’s WSJ Op-Ed Criticizing Bessent Was Written With AI
“I write everything using AI now,” Druckenmiller, who questioned the treasury secretary’s bond market interventions, said.
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
"If every story changes depending on who’s reading it, eventually we lose the storyteller. We lose the journalist. We lose the editorial judgment that makes one publication feel different from another. That’s exactly what readers are paying for."
inma.org
Here’s why I changed my mind about liquid content
Should news companies reconsider liquid content and prioritise adaptation over personalisation?
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
"Raskin estimates that a quarter of recent pitches were 'wholly AI, meaning neither the writer nor the proposed story appears to exist in the real world.'"
niemanlab.org
Facing a “deluge” from AI, this publication will only take pitches by phone
Whether you're a reporter or an editor, your inbox has probably seen an influx of pitches, increasingly written with artificial intelligence. They're likely bad, irrelevant, and annoyingly clogging up...
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Sarah Scott Scire @sarahscire.com · 18/08/2026
“Having been deluged by AI-generated and enhanced story ideas this summer, we’re re-humanizing the process with a dedicated hotline (which has the added benefit of weeding out supposed reporters who aren’t in the habit of ringing up strangers.)” www.niemanlab.org/2026/08/faci...
niemanlab.org
Facing a “deluge” from AI, this publication will only take pitches by phone
Whether you're a reporter or an editor, your inbox has probably seen an influx of pitches, increasingly written with artificial intelligence. They're likely bad, irrelevant, and annoyingly clogging up...
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Dave Lee @davelee.me · 18/08/2026
Big moment here www.macrumors.com/2026/08/17/c...
macrumors.com
Apple's Camera-Equipped AirPods Confirmed: See Them in Action
Apple is working on camera-equipped AirPods that appear to be nearly ready to launch, based on a video MacRumors found in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate. In a short demo, a man holds a book up...
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Rahul Bhargava @rahulbot.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
C+J is again bringing together journalists and academics this fall for 2 days of talks, demos, workshops, and more! This is *the* place to stay up to date on computation and journalism. Oct 2-3 at Northwestern. Program and registration now live at www.cj2026.northwestern.edu/schedule/
cj2026.northwestern.edu
Schedule | Computation + Journalism 2026 Symposium
📍map
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Graham Lovelace @glovelace.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
🚨SPOTIFY IS set to introduce a badging scheme showing artists are AI fabrications. Why is it doing this, and is it enough? Reaction and analysis in Charting Gen AI's Weekly Newsletter. Do subscribe! grahamlovelace.substack.com/p/spotifys-m...
grahamlovelace.substack.com
Spotify's move to label AI artists 'tackles a PR risk rather than impact of slop'
#117 | PLUS: News orgs complain over AI summaries | Literary prize is postponed pending AI review |✨AND: The font that defeats AI
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Here's some context from the news industry side - the quality of "voice" has seen vast improvements - and more expected on the way - so some are predicting that more people will start trying to access information by talking out loud to AI.
wsj.com
Exclusive | Apple in Talks to Pay Publishers to Improve AI-Powered Siri
The content deals could provide the tech company’s voice assistant with current news and information.
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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
New from 404 Media: ICE to spend millions to buy data from LexisNexis to then feed into a Palantir system. ICE has long bought data from LexisNexis, which feds use to map out a person's addresses, location, assets, etc. But now explicitly want to use with Palantir www.404media.co/ice-to-pay-l...
404media.co
ICE to Pay LexisNexis Millions for Data to Feed to Palantir
LexisNexis sells a massive amount of data to law enforcement, including ICE. New records indicate ICE wants to feed that data into a Palantir system.
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Hanaa’ Tameez @hanaatameez.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
NEW: 800+ USA Today Co. employees are calling on the company to end its partnership with Palantir. "Our commitment to upholding First Amendment principles to serve the democratic process is in direct contrast with a company like Palantir," unionized staffers say. www.niemanlab.org/2026/08/an-i...
niemanlab.org
“An inherent conflict of interest”: 800 USA Today Co. employees want the company to end its new Palantir partnership
More than 800 USA Today Co. employees are calling on the company to dissolve its recently announced partnership with Palantir, according to a joint statement from 31 unionized newsrooms published Mond...
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Latest rumours about the nature of the device Jony Ive is designing for OpenAI: a $300+ donut shaped metal smart speaker - due out in 2027 techcrunch.com/2026/08/06/o...
techcrunch.com
OpenAI's new AI smart speaker will reportedly sell for between $300 and $400 | TechCrunch
Additional details about OpenAI's mysterious new AI device make it sound like a pricey smart speaker.
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Hanaa’ Tameez @hanaatameez.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
USA Today Co. owns more than 200 local newspapers in the United States, along with its national daily USA Today. The partnership with Palantir comes amid a decline in search traffic — a challenge faced by publications around the world. www.niemanlab.org/2026/08/amer...
niemanlab.org
America’s largest newspaper chain, USA Today Co., partners with Palantir to analyze audience data
USA Today Co. has made a deal with software company Palantir to analyze and monetize user behavior, the company announced on Thursday. In its Q2 earnings call Thursday morning, USA Today Co. chairman...
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
AI wishing: "the belief by company leaders that A.I. is magic, that you can wave its wand toward a hard problem and skip the work of solving it." AI washing: "when a company — under pressure to immediately show results — claims to be doing more with A.I. than it actually is." GIFT LINK!!
nytimes.com
Opinion | I Helped Run Lululemon. The A.I. Revolution Is a Hot Mess. (Gift Article)
The A.I. revolution is stalling because companies don’t want to admit that integrating the technology is expensive and slow and requires human effort.
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Andrew Deck @andrewdeck.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
This year, five Pulitzer winners and three finalists disclosed AI use to the judges. That's the most since the disclosure requirement was added in 2024. I asked several of the reporters behind these stories how they brought LLMs and other AI tools into their work. www.niemanlab.org/2026/08/a-re...
niemanlab.org
A record-breaking eight Pulitzer awardees disclosed AI use this year
Five winners and three finalists detailed their AI adoption to the judging committee.
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Clare Spencer @clarespencer.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
I have an embarrassing tab problem. So a problem shared is a problem halved. These are some of my tabs I don't want to close because the articles look like they will have something useful in them.
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