How I actually use AI every day
From tracking breaking news to refining drafts, here’s how AI has become a daily part of my reporting process without replacing my voice.
One thing was abundantly clear from my recent audience survey: readers want more practical guidance on how to use AI, not just commentary. I’ll have a lot more to say about that later this week, but today I’d like to share how AI has completely rewired the way I work, from deep research tools to browser agents. Think of it as a field report from inside one journalist’s AI workflow.
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Big news, bold plans, and a look ahead
Although 2025 is winding down, I’m staying busy. Not only do I have a big announcement coming later this week, but I’m also making plans for 2026:
I’m thrilled to announce The Media Copilot will be a media partner for Revved Up 2026 in St. Petersburg, Florida in March! I’m thrilled to be working with Heather Holst-Knudsen at H2K Labs to build a program that helps media operators find a path to sustainable revenue as they navigate a strange new ecosystem full of AI chatbots, GEO, and rising bot traffic. If you’d like to go, go ahead and use my special link and use the code RUPMEDIACOPILOT for 10% off your ticket. Prices go up in the New Year, so act fast!
Back in the here and now: This week, I’ll be at the AI Summit New York moderating a panel called Creative Capital, which will look at how some of the world’s most innovative companies are leveraging AI to boost creativity, not replace it. If you’re at the show, be sure to say hi.
On Friday, it’s your last chance in 2025 to take my AI Quick Start class for journalists and PR pros. This will be the first time I do a full demo of my new deep research technique that takes advantage of ChatGPT 5.1’s improved instruction following. The class is only $49, and you can sign up here. Beginners welcome!
And the rumors are true: Next month will mark my return to CES after a two-year absence. I’m looking forward to reconnecting with the tech world, seeing all the new devices that are coming, and getting positively clobbered with nonstop AI hype.
I was excited to reassert my (measured) optimism about how AI can alter journalistic incentives for the better on a recent installment of Sharon Goldman’s AI Side Notes podcast:
I also had a chance to talk about the history of AI in the media with Anika Jackson on a recent episode of Your Brand Amplified. I love these more laid-back discussions since they give more time to explore the “whys” of the forces changing the information space, and how to adapt.
One last thing: If you’re interested in sponsoring The Media Copilot newsletter or podcast, please reach out at advertising@mediacopilot.ai.
10 ways journalists can use AI while staying true to their craft
There’s a lot of chatter right now about an AI bubble, fueled in part by a perception that productivity gains from AI are largely illusory. I can’t speak to the market, and whether AI is broadly overvalued or undervalued, but I can say that over just the past year, AI has completely reshaped how I work.
Looking at the tools today that didn’t exist a year ago—deep research, browser agents, the big leaps in performance for all the latest models—there’s a host of ways AI can speed up or enhance many tasks of knowledge workers, especially journalists. As an independent journalist, I’m perhaps a little less constrained than most (my AI policy is whatever I want it to be), and AI has forced me to reconsider how every part of the job gets done.
So bubble or not, that shift is already here. To better articulate this and highlight tools and techniques that are broadly useful, I’ve broken down several ways I use AI in my writing, researching, and reporting.
The most intuitive way to organize this is by walking through the story process—from developing ideas to hitting publish to sharing on social media. Here are 10 ways AI factors into my day-to-day work as a journalist and content creator:
Beat monitoring: The set of stories that any individual reporter needs to keep up with is different, and AI’s ability to personalize and summarize is extremely helpful here. I find ChatGPT Pulse—which doesn’t just compile stories, but explains why they’re relevant to your work and includes other personal info (like your schedule)—to be extremely helpful, but it also requires the Pro plan ($200/month). A stripped-down, but still useful tool is scheduled tasks in ChatGPT or Perplexity, where you craft a prompt that searches for the latest stories you’re interested in and sends it to your inbox.
