iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Gina Chua

@ginaskchua.bsky.social

3.1K followers 18 following 78 posts

Executive Director of the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY and Executive Editor at Large at global news startup Semafor; formerly Reuters, SCMP and WSJ. TJA member. Exploring new forms of journalism and where the profession is heading.

Posts Replies Media

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The more capable AI agents get, the more we will come to depend on choices, minor and major, they make on our behalf — including what news we might want to read. Should we? My latest for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/open-the-p...

restructurednews.substack.com

Open The Pod Bay Doors, HAL

The road to the apocalypse is paved with unclear intentions.

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I have existential dread about an AI apocalypse too; but we also have less-dangerous models that can already transform the news and information landscape, and we should be taking advantage of this. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/good-enough

restructurednews.substack.com

Are we all going to die, or what?

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

A riff on human judgement and the upsides — and downsides — of encoding our goals, values and perspectives on AI systems. We need to articulate what we want, but perhaps not at the level we commonly think of. My latest for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/cat-call

restructurednews.substack.com

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Talking to LLMs can be a great way to flesh out ideas — which agents seem to have also learned, given how they cooperated in the hack of Hugging Face. The promise and perils of talking to ourselves, for my latest post for Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/talk-it-out

restructurednews.substack.com

Musings on thinking out loud, and, of course, the OpenAI/Hugging Face hack.

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

More light, less heat: Could AI systems help us just listen to each other, without the invective? Perhaps. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/politeness...

restructurednews.substack.com

Can’t we all just get along, please?

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I've been worried that AI systems will serve platforms rather than us — but what if the machines are just doing their own thing? How can we ensure they're doing what we want, with our interests at heart? My latest for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/transcende...

restructurednews.substack.com

I’ve been worried about whether AI systems will work for us, or for the platforms — but what if the answer is, none of the above?

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

AI systems are not human and that's a feature, not a bug. We should stop thinking of them as substitute humans and instead leverage their non-human capabilities to fulfill our mission to inform the public. My latest for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY: restructurednews.substack.com/p/aliens-amo...

restructurednews.substack.com

Aliens Among Us

LLMs are not human — and that’s a feature, not a bug.

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Verifying information is getting harder in an AI age — but that's only one part of a multi-layered information ecosystem. We need also to figure out provenance and ensure the right context and intent. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/layer-cake

restructurednews.substack.com

Information is a many-layered thing.

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Maybe it's obvious, but if LLMs understand language, and code is language, and the digital world runs on code... what digital surface can't you touch via AI systems? My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/surface-te...

restructurednews.substack.com

Surface Tension

What does the world look like if you look at it like an LLM?

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Really an excuse to post this AI-generated magazine cover and urge you to take our chatbot-powered survey, but also a riff how we can't make assumptions about what AI systems will never do as well as us. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/a-thousand...

restructurednews.substack.com

A Thousand Words

It’s not really about the survey, but could you fill it out please?

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

What happens to all our systems and structures when it's cost-effective to write a program for a single person, or chase down thousands of leads? My latest about the impact of AI on journalism for the Tow-Knight Center for Journalism Futures at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/its-the-ec...

restructurednews.substack.com

It's The Economics, Stupid

Money really does make the world go round.

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

How much might speech interfaces — I just tested out ChatGPT LIve — change the nature and business of news? Could it unlock untapped demand for news, even as it reshapes how we communicate information? My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/talk-to-me

restructurednews.substack.com

Voice, the final (for now) frontier.

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Are we sure we should be sure? When readers - intention - drive the creation of narrative, how much should we trusting they can make up their own minds if we tell them what we know and what we don't? My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/the-uncert...

restructurednews.substack.com

The Uncertainty Principle

How sure are we that being sure is the right thing to be?

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

If AI systems excel at swaying opinion — and they do — then we need to worry about who controls how the stories they create for us are framed, what facts are presented, whose perspectives are seen. My latest for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/believe-me

restructurednews.substack.com

How can I persuade you that AI systems are really good at changing your mind?

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

What does an AI-intermediated future look like for news and public information? My theory, and thoughts about what do about it, in my latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. A sort of season 1 recap of the whole substack. You're welcome. restructurednews.substack.com/p/whats-it-a...

restructurednews.substack.com

What's It All About?

So what are we talking about here, anyway?

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

What happens when you have a system that doesn't abide by unwritten norms and assumptions? It can get so much more done — and it can trample safeguards we've come to rely on. My latest post for CUNY's Tow-Knight Center, about the unintended consequences of an AI-intermediated future. bit.ly/4eHam4q

restructurednews.substack.com

AI is not normal.

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

How can we position ourselves for the coming news landscape if we don't have a theory of what it will look like? We can't strategize for what we haven't imagined. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY, about needing "theories of change." restructurednews.substack.com/p/change-agent

restructurednews.substack.com

The journey of a thousand miles begins…with having some idea of where you ought to go.

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Imagine if we had just used word processes as glorified typewriters, or thought of electricity as just more stable steam power; why, then do we build newsroom agents to mimic humans and fit into human workflows? My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. bit.ly/4fPnOEf

restructurednews.substack.com

What species should populate the newsroom of the future?

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

What are humans good for? And when does it matter? Musings about when we might want center human capabilities in news production — and when we might not, in my latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/only-human

restructurednews.substack.com

What are humans good for, anyway?

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

JESS, our AI-powered safety and security tool is live! The goal is to help smaller newsrooms and freelancers assess security risks while reporting. And it offers us about what and how we should build journalism tools. Too many people to thank here in one post, but read on: bit.ly/4v51wD5

restructurednews.substack.com

Our journalist safety and security bot is live!

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

When coding is cheap and data is plentiful, where does value lie? Good questions. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY, about how creative imagination and smart questions drive value in an age where tools and systems are easy to build. restructurednews.substack.com/p/just-askin...

restructurednews.substack.com

Just Asking Questions

When coding is cheap and data is plentiful, where does value lie?

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

If news was a restaurant, what kind of restaurant would it be? My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY balancing the quality of journalism, connection with community and the personal touch in the new information ecosystem. restructurednews.substack.com/p/news-diet

restructurednews.substack.com

If news was a restaurant, what kind of restaurant would it be?

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

How will we — or our agents — know who — or which agents — to trust on an internet that's increasingly designed for bots, not humans? The looming trust question for coming internet of agents, in my latest post the the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/trust-bust...

restructurednews.substack.com

On the internet, no one knows you’re a bot.

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Does the path tosustainability involve encoding our expertise and migrating upmarket? A riff on Francesco Marconi's paper, Who Will Monetize Truth, and what we can do to begin to explore that future. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/pricing-pe...

restructurednews.substack.com

Pricing Personas

Is a path to sustainability selling intelligence and expertise rather than stories?

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

What would a city built from scratch with self-driving cars look like; and what would the news and information look like if we built it today? My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. Plus, bonus AI-generated lyrics about news architecture. restructurednews.substack.com/p/all-too-well

restructurednews.substack.com

If you were building the news ecosystem from scratch, what would it look like?

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

What can journalism do to help reduce polarization? Does serving our readers too well make matters worse? Can technology help make it better? My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY (where I riff off the ever-insightful Jonathan Stray.) restructurednews.substack.com/p/stray-thou...

restructurednews.substack.com

Is journalism incentivized for polarization?

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

What will the competitive landscape for journalists look like for those who embrace AI tools, those who are decent at using them, and those who eschew them altogether? Musings on the mindsets that might make a major difference. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. bit.ly/4caUKUq

restructurednews.substack.com

Millions of Mediocre Minions

Gen AI will likely upturn the competitive landscape for journalists.

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Telling an LLM "you're a smart editor" doesn't make it one; but defining and requiring it to work through a rigorous series of steps — the way an actual editor would — can get it beyond cosplaying. This week's post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/process-ov...

restructurednews.substack.com

Process Over Persona

Or, getting beyond cosplaying.

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Keeping journalism outlets afloat isn't a goal unto itself; keeping them afloat so communities have access to public interest information is the real goal. Or: What are we in business for? A reminder in this week's post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/the-missio...

restructurednews.substack.com

The Mission of Money

As we scramble to find ways to keep newsrooms afloat in the coming AI age, let’s not forget why we want to.

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Every technological change has changed how newsrooms create value and make money; what are possible business models in the coming AI age — and what aren't? My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. (It's free! — not a great business model..) restructurednews.substack.com/p/money-matt...

restructurednews.substack.com

What business are we in, if not the content business?

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

Mulling the tradeoffs between saving a news org and saving the news ecosystem in the AI age: two different missions that don't necessarily map onto each other — and sometimes contradict each other. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY restructurednews.substack.com/p/mission-co...

restructurednews.substack.com

Mission Control

What are we trying to do, and who are we doing it for?

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

How many bots does it take to edit a story well? An experiment in adversarial editing in my latest post for the Tow-Knight Center for Journalism Futures at CUNY. Plus, some useful inhumanity. bit.ly/4ubk1pN

If one bot is good, are two better?

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Is Generative AI just overhyped, mindless math, or world-changing technology? What if the skeptics are right — and what if the skeptics of the skeptics are right? My post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY digs into what we don't know we don't know. restructurednews.substack.com/p/nothing-to...

restructurednews.substack.com

Nothing To See Here

What if AI is just hype — and what if it isn’t?

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Some thoughts on how our writing will evolve — no more scintillating leads and witty kickers? — if we're writing news mostly for machines and AI agents to read and summarize for human users instead of directly for humans. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. bit.ly/4akceOn

restructurednews.substack.com

Attention Spans

Are you the sort of person who loves stories that start with a question?

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

We wanted to make it easier to figure out what all the Nieman Lab predictions said, so we built a RAG (and a chatbot.) But really what we wanted to figure out was how to build a RAG and a chatbot. Follow along! restructurednews.substack.com/p/the-future...

restructurednews.substack.com

The Future of Predictions

My chatbot read 511 Nieman Lab predictions so you don’t have to.

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

Dispatches from the (near) future: My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center for Journalism Futures at the Newmark School of Journalism at CUNY, about how the way we create and consume news may be changing faster than we think. restructurednews.substack.com/p/dispatches...

restructurednews.substack.com

Dispatches From The Future

Objects in the front windscreen may be nearer than they appear — with apologies to Meat Loaf

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

The LLMs reply: What Claude and ChatGPT have to say about my last post about Structured Journalism. restructurednews.substack.com/p/wwcd

restructurednews.substack.com

What Would Claude (or ChatGPT) Do?

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Updating the circa-2010 idea of Structured Journalism for the LLM Age; my latest for the Tow-Knight Center for Journalism Futures at CUNY. (Claude and ChatGPT will push back later in the week...) bit.ly/3Zh5ria

Restructuring Structured Journalism: A Manifesto (of Sorts)

Well, this is a blast from the past.

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Trust, and verification: Why do people seem better disposed to chatbots than to news orgs, despite hallucinations? It may have less to do with LLM's features and more the way we interact with them. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/you-talkin...

restructurednews.substack.com

You Talkin’ To Me?

Why do people trust chatbots more than they trust humans?

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

What's on my mind about AI and journalism: We have to be in two minds about it. A post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY about the contradictions we have to juggle when we strategize for an AI-intermediated world of news. restructurednews.substack.com/p/both-sides...

restructurednews.substack.com

It’s 2026: Do you know where your newsroom is?

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

My partner in crime at @towknight.bsky.social Tow-Knight Center for Journalism Futures, @adielkaplan.bsky.social Adiel Kaplan writes today about the changing — sometimes mysterious — world of metrics in an AI landscape. Plus: A survey! We know you'd love to fill it out. Please do! bit.ly/4sCKP16

What Metrics Matter? Two Case Studies. And a Survey.

Today’s post comes from Adiel, the Tow-Knight Center’s Program Director.

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

A conclave of editors: A look at how three different LLMs approach the same editing exercise, and how that might help us design systems to take advantage of their different strengths/approaches. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY. restructurednews.substack.com/p/a-conclave...

restructurednews.substack.com

A Conclave (or Cacophony) of Editors

Three LLMs walk into a bar…

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

Musings about money, and the value of content in an AI world; it needs to be married with audience engagement and understanding in this new landscape. My last 2025 post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY's Newmark School. restructurednews.substack.com/p/is-content...

restructurednews.substack.com

Is Content King?

How will news publishers make money in an age of AI?

000

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Could we better serve more of our readers by building internal AI avatars of them to advocate for stories that speak to their needs and perspectives? Can we build machines to get us past our blind spots? My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center for Journalism Futures at CUNY. bit.ly/4qfYnxE

The Blind Spot Machine

Who is the news for?

000

Reposted by Gina Chua

Nieman Lab @niemanlab.org · 16/12/2025

@ginaskchua.bsky.social: “If we don’t, we risk ceding the space to companies that will optimize for engagement, not civic participation.” www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/pres...

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

Every year, Nieman Labs asks how journalism will change in the coming year. My prediction this year is about how audiences will change — and how we need to adapt if we want to stay relevant and fulfill our public service mission. www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/pres...

Pressured by chatbots, newsrooms push past the one-story-fits-all model

"If we don't, we risk ceding the space to companies that will optimize for engagement, not civic participation."

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Who should we think of as the core journalism user of AI tools: the savviest, or the laziest reporter in the newsroom — or someone else? Musings on meeting in the middle. My latest post for the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY's journalism school. restructurednews.substack.com/p/meeting-in...

restructurednews.substack.com

Meeting in The Middle

Who uses AI tools?

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Some thoughts about where the audience for news is going — and what we can do about it. (And no, it's not for the Nieman Labs prediction issue, although hopefully that comes out soon too...) This one is for CJR's issue on journalism in 2025: www.cjr.org/analysis/wha...

How an AI-mediated world transforms news consumption.

How an AI-mediated world transforms news consumption.

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

If who you know matters as much as what you know, what's the most effective way to extract, store and present relationship data? An experiment with LLMs, a throwback to old projects, and thoughts about what we could try next. My post for this week. Please subscribe! bit.ly/48X5ANf

“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.”

Gina Chua @ginaskchua.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

This week's post on my substack: On a fascinating idea to try to ground LLMs in — if not truth, at least in sourcing — and what that could mean for journalism and public interesting information. Plus, structured journalism. restructurednews.substack.com/p/the-facts-...

restructurednews.substack.com

The Facts of Life

How does an LLM know if something is true?