Exploration #136

Welcome to Public Media Innovators! This week the UK roles out a sensible playbook for AI in government, the folks at Howtown explain the state of content authentication (📺), Reuters has an adorable explainer of the cozy game movement, a PBS alum launches a TikTok-inspired platform for legit news, and finally, John Oliver skewers Meta’s changes to content moderation (📺).

But First…

It was great to see so many of you at last week’s PMI webinar, “Innovate with Current: The Secret History of Public Media.” Our ‘prequel’ to January’s “Innovate with Current: Visions for Public Media’s Future“ filled in some gaps for a lot of us on the history of public media, though through the lends of innovation. So, even if you think you know the history of innovation in public media, you need to check this one out.

We appreciate that so many of you liked our experiment with this dyad of big picture sessions. We’ll try to develop and program more of those later in the year. If you were inspired and have suggestions for some big themes, please email them to me.

And if you missed any part of last week’s webinar, or want to share it with others, you can find the video, transcripts and chat history here.

As we brought things to a close last week, we also announced March’s webinar, and you’ll find more info on that in our Learn section below.

No column this week. I’m reading up on (among other things) agentic AI and AI-infused search, but I had to choose between column or curation. So, on to the links….

Learn…

📺 I tried to prove I'm not AI (Howtown) 
Key Line: "[C2PA] stands for the coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity. This is an effort that has been led by Adobe, but it includes a whole bunch of companies, including most of the big generative AI companies. And the idea is to use cryptographically-sealed metadata to help us identify where a piece of media came from and how it has changed over time."
Why It Matters: First h/t to Talia Rosen for sending this my way. If you haven't heard of C2PA you've been subtly exposed to it when I use images generated by Adobe Firefly in this newsletter. This piece will explain what it is and why this approach to content authentication is important to us as professional content creators. Ultimately, this technology is about trust, and provenance has never been the internet’s top priority.
But You Don’t Have to Take My Word for It: Check out Howtown’s “Selected Source List” for the episode.

Ed Tech Innovations: Highlights from SXSW EDU 2025 - Thursday, March 20, 2025, 1pET/10aPT - Public media plays a vital role in education, but how can we stay ahead of emerging trends to better serve our communities? This year, our annual tech and culture trends recap takes an educational turn, focusing on insights from SXSW EDU the international education conference shaping the future of learning.

Join us for a dynamic conversation with Greg Rosenbaum, VP of Education at SXSW, as he shares key takeaways designed specifically for public media professionals. Discover how emerging trends create opportunities for your station to:

• Adopt innovative storytelling approaches that resonate with diverse audiences

• Implement accessibility features that expand your community reach Integrate arts and creativity into your educational content

• Leverage new technologies that align with public media's mission

Co-presented with NETA’s Education Peer Learning Community, This webinar will equip you with fresh ideas and forward-thinking strategies to keep your station at the forefront of education and innovation in public media.

Think…

Launching the Artificial Intelligence Playbook for the UK Government (Tommaso Spinelli - Government Digital Service Blog) 
Key Line: "The AI Playbook updates and expands on old guidance to offer help on a wider range of AI technologies in addition to generative AI, including machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, computer vision, speech recognition and more. [...] The AI Playbook is an important element of the government's bigger goal of putting AI to good use - making things run better, encouraging fresh thinking, reducing the time spent on repetitive tasks, and giving the economy a boost."
Why It Matters: Two points to make here. First, you need an AI policy for your organization, and you should ideally be updating that policy every 6 months (I'm about to start drafting Nebraska's v2.5 update next month). Second, AI is evolving beyond generative AI, and it's useful to see the taxonomy employed by the British government.
But You Don't Have to Take My Word For It: Read the Playbook yourself (PDF).
Extra Credit: Meanwhile, back here in America…

3 Signs We’re In a New Era of XR (Mike Boland - AR Insider) 
Key Line: "Consumer demand – and even enterprise adoption – had been grossly overestimated. It turns out that consumers want things that are familiar and convenient versus bulky, expensive, and intimidating. 2D screens continue to dwarf VR and AR adoption. Though this cycle disappointed and deflated XR proponents everywhere – and several failed companies – the tech is still promising. But it’s a matter of resetting expectations. XR will be formidable in the ways that DSLRs or A/V receivers are – respectable markets but not ubiquitous."
Why It Matters: With VR, Hindsight is 2025. And 10 years on from the first big explosion of VR the use cases that seemed to stick were virtual tours (think real estate) and immersive video games. Neither of those require VR but are still more impactful in VR. I see those as the mammals that survived the fallout from the asteroid. We've learned a lot in the last 10 years, and I still believe that xR (né VR & AR) can be a viable medium for public media. The road is longer than we expected, but keep in mind that the industry has always been building toward the first generation of 'xR natives.' That's Generation Alpha, and over the next 5-10 years they will make their voice heard in this space as the medium matures to match the target audience.
Extra Credit: At the same time, Adrian Pennington highlights some potential greens shoots for the next era in their piece for RedShark News.

Cozy Comfort (Tiana McGee - Reuters) 
Key Line: “The gaming industry is larger than the film and music industries combined globally. A growing sector is the subgenre dubbed “cozy games.” They are marked by their relaxing nature, meant to help players unwind with challenges that are typically more constructive than destructive. Recent research explores whether this style of game, along with video games more generally, can improve mental health and quality of life. These play-at-your-own-pace games attract both longtime gamers and newcomers. [...] There’s no hard definition for a “cozy game.” If the game gives the player a cozy, warm feeling then it fits.”
Why It Matters: PBS has long trafficked in "cozy." Cozy mysteries, cozy dramas, cozy history, cozy nature. Even the PBS NewsHour - for the longest time the antidote to shoutcasts from CNN & FoxNews - could be characterized as a cozy newscast. So, cozy games are the perfect avenue for public media to break into the world of general audience video games.

Know…

Meet Eva, the AI chatbot based on a woman in prison (Santi Carneri - Rëşt ôf the Wǒrld)
Key Line: 'Eva is different from other AI-powered chatbots that have mushroomed worldwide. “Most chatbots are designed to serve big corporations or the state,” Maricarmen Sequera, a Paraguayan lawyer and member of the nonprofit Tedic, which specializes in the intersection of human rights and technology, told Rest of World. Eva, she said, is meant “to spread knowledge.”'
Why It Matters: This feels like the type of emerging media experiment that Frontline might do. It's worth checking out to see a different approach to a chatbot for consumer use (more like a non-playable character in a video game).

Battle of the Bands III: Riffusion vs. Suno vs. Udio (Daniel Nest - Why Try AI) 
Key Line: “This time around, our challengers will face off in the following four categories: Creative interpretation...Instrumentals...Songs (from scratch)...Song (from lyrics).”
Why It Matters: Generative video and agents have captured the imagination of the AI press lately, and generative music hasn't generated enough buzz to be top of mind. But improvements have been happening behind the scenes. If you've seen any of the live AI presentations we've done in the past year, Suno has been the go-to model for generating music on the fly. But I'm curious to try out Riffusion.

Claude 3.7 Sonnet and Claude Code (Anthropic) 
Key Line: “We’ve developed Claude 3.7 Sonnet with a different philosophy from other reasoning models on the market. Just as humans use a single brain for both quick responses and deep reflection, we believe reasoning should be an integrated capability of frontier models rather than a separate model entirely. This unified approach also creates a more seamless experience for users“
Why It Matters: Anthropic's Claude had been lagging behind the other major models in crossing the frontier of reasoning. Now it's caught up in uniquely Claude style. Personally, I'm still using ChatGPT, but I like that the Claude option exists in the market. To me Claude is the Apple OS of the gAI space.

Guardian signs licensing deal with ChatGPT owner OpenAI (Dominic Ponsford - PressGazette) 
Key Line: "The deal will ensure The Guardian receives compensation for the use of its journalism on ChatGPT and gets properly credited on the platform. Under the deal The Guardian will also be able to use OpenAI technology in-house."
Why It Matters: I continue to hope someone at the national level is trying to strike a deal with OpenAI, Anthropic or Google on behalf of public media.

📺 Video to Audio Is Now Here (LumaAI via X)
Key Line: “Video to Audio is now here in Dream Machine. To generate sound for your video generations, just select the new "Audio" button. Create with a single click or describe with prompts for more customized direction. Audio is available now in beta for free to all users.”
Why It Matters: The ability to generate audio effect from video feels like a crucial step in the development of AI filmmaking. But it also seems like it could be useful to the rest of us. I’m sure the initial results won’t match the sizzle real, but I’m curious how easily it will be to fine-tune these outputs in post. Make sure the video editors in your life know this advance available.

Is the International Film Industry Starting to Embrace AI? (Scott Roxborough - The Hollywood Reporter) 
Key Line: 'In this period of creative and financial crisis for the indie film industry, many are starting to see a different possibility — one where AI, if implemented with care, could be a catalyst for creativity rather than a threat to it. “Fears over AI, combined with the industry’s current pains, are the real problem,” says Mann. “The best our industry has ever done is when it embraces technology responsibly. AI should be consent-driven, copyrightable, and artist-focused — so creators can do more, take risks and bring originality back. It’s time for a more nuanced conversation, not just making AI the villain.”'
Why It Matters: Watching Hollywood wrestle with these ethical issues gives you a good sense of how this tech could filter down to us in public media. So much of this is King Canute trying to stem the tides though (yes, that was an Erv Duggan reference, for you OGs in the crowd). AI will infuse the entirety of our industry, probably in the next 10 years. So watching Hollywood is one way think through implications and opportunities.
Extra Credit: Rachyl Jones' piece for Semafor is also a good, quick read: New Putin biopic uses AI to superimpose the Russian President’s face 

Copyright Office Offers Assurances on AI Filmmaking Tools (Gene Madders - Variety) 
Key Line(s): “The announcement clears the way for continued adoption of AI in post-production, where it has become increasingly common, such as in the enhancement of Hungarian-language dialogue in “The Brutalist.” [...] In a 41-page report, the Copyright Office also reiterated that human authorship is essential to copyright, and that merely entering text prompts into an AI system is not enough to claim authorship of the resulting output.”
Why It Matters: Variety's take on the Copyright Office's recent report seemed worth including here as well, especially given some of the controversy surrounding the use of AI tools in creating this year’s Oscar nominees.
Extra Credit: Deadline’s ‘The Brutalist’ Director Brady Corbet Says Use Of AI In Post Was For “Hungarian Language Dialogue Editing Only;” Filmmaker Asserts Adrien Brody & Felicity Jones’ “Performances Are Completely Their Own” By Anthony D'Alessandro and Natalie Oganesyan, goes deeper on the issues around “The Brutalist.”

321 real-world gen AI use cases from the world's leading organizations (Google Cloud) 
Key Line: "In our work with customers, we see their teams are increasingly focused on improving productivity, automating processes, and modernizing the customer experience. These aims are now being achieved through the AI agents they’re developing in six key areas: customer service; employee empowerment; code creation; data analysis; cybersecurity; and creative ideation and production."
Why It Matters: This bit of content market is worth a quick skim. You may find some inspiration for the use of AI in your own organization. If nothing else, it serves as a passable proxy for an environmental scan on AI usage.
Extra Credit: MarTech’s Top 50 genAI Use Cases in Marketing

Reporters launch new TikTok-like news platform (Max Tani - Semafor) 
Key Line: "Noosphere is a mobile-first platform for news that will charge less than $20 a month to users in exchange for unlimited access to content produced by independent journalists. Videos, audio podcasts, and articles will be displayed in Noosphere’s application, which is oriented around a single primary feed. [...] CEO Jane Ferguson, a decorated former war correspondent for PBS, told Semafor that she founded Noosphere in reaction to the collapsing broadcast and digital media ecosystems that have left thousands of talented journalists out of work."
Why It Matters: It's heartening that this comes out of a PBS alum. I want this to succeed, so I'll subscribe, and I appreciate the Substack-meets-TikTok innovation. But I also don't know how this outcompetes with Substack at a time when that platform is leaning into video. I mean, fewer platformed Nazis is definitely an edge for Noosphere, but is that enough?
Extra Credit: Tani also broke a story for Semafor on the New York Times rolling out internally developed AI tools for its journalists.

From job board to influencer hub: How LinkedIn became a creator gold mine (AJ Eckstein - Fast Company) 
Key Line: "[T]hese LinkedIn influencers aren’t your typical lifestyle content creators from TikTok or Instagram. Often called “professional influencers,” they never set out to make money off their content. Instead, they focused on sharing industry insights, offering business tips, and telling real-world career stories. Now, they’re stepping into the spotlight and shaking up the platform in a whole new way." 
Why It Matters: What is your company's LinkedIn strategy? It should definitely be more than posting job openings and celebrating corporate events. This guy does comedy on LinkedIn. As other social media fall into the dumpster fire of culture wars, one platform apparently still has some value. In fact, some of you may be reading this there now.
Extra Credit: In other LinkedIn News (from Alexander Lee at DigiDay): LinkedIn’s video push appears to be working in 2025 

BuzzFeed’s New Plan: An AI-Powered Social Media Platform to Help “Spread Joy” (Mia Galuppo - The Hollywood Reporter) 
Key Line: "In his memo, Peretti calls out social platforms for prioritizing what he describes as content with exaggerated stakes that manufacture anger and provoke fear, among other negative emotions, in order to retain user attention."
Why It Matters: Both this and the LinkedIn story above show that there’s definitely a perceived need for some alternative to the social media status quo. But reading this, I keep thinking of the Audre Lorde line "For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house." I'm not saying there doesn't need to be a solution, but I'm not sure this is it. My hope rest in Bluesky, I guess, but keep a weather eye on this one, less it makes landfall.
But You Don't Have to Take My Word For It: Read Peretti's manifesto for yourself.
Extra Credit: In other Buzzfeed news, Josh Beckerman from WSJ reports BuzzFeed to Cut About 5% of Workforce 

The Game That Shows We’re Thinking About History All Wrong (Spencer Kornhaber - The Atlantic) 
Key Line: "I like that the game wants to honor how societies really can change in sweeping, sudden ways. But in gaming and in life, fixating on an episodic view of time—prophecies of rise and fall, cycles of malaise and renewal—can have a diminishing effect on the present. Civilization VII suggests why the what’s-next anxieties of our times, stuck between mourning yesterday and anticipating tomorrow, can be so draining. Time actually doesn’t move in chunks. At best, eras are an imprecise tool to make sense of the messy past, and at worst, they rob us of our sense of agency."
Why It Matters: This piece is a great example of a video games being worthy of cultural critique. Like any art, they are of their time and reflect the sensibilities and anxieties of their time.

And finally…

📺 Facebook & Content Moderation (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver - HBO) 
And finally, clear out the next half hour, and grab some headphones or close the office door. You're going to want to savor this one.

Have a creative, productive week!