Q2 Media Landscape Update + Reed Albergotti Interview
Q&A with Reed Albergotti @ Semafor
If it feels like the past four months in tech have lasted several years, you’re not alone. From the launch of Meta’s (ahem, Instagram’s) Threads to Elon’s latest move to limit Twitter usage, there’s been no shortage of oxygen to feed the fire of tech journalists, and in some ways, it feels as though the industry is moving and changing faster than ever.
Despite the whirlwind, taking a step back reveals a reality that has not fundamentally changed, but merely shifted. When we last took a look at newsrooms at the beginning of March, we highlighted two trends – the Artificial Intelligence frenzy and the Global Tech Race. In our conversations of late—at conferences, with clients, over coffee with journalists—those same two themes have consistently bubbled up, with the latter centering mainly on China. Both have evolved, and begun to intertwine; we don’t see that trajectory slowing down through the rest of 2023. Editors everywhere are asking their reporters many of the same questions – anticipating these could be the difference between a brilliant hit and a news cycle passing you by:
Is the AI boom equitable? Where are we seeing harms?
How involved should governments be in the future of AI?
What does regulation look like? Should there even be regulation today?
How will Beijing’s economic and business policies impact their approach to AI?
Where is generative AI making a real difference today?
Who will corner the market on the infrastructure needed to support AI?
Is AI—and more broadly, tech—truly global? Can global regulatory frameworks be effective for such fast-moving technology?
In this installment, we talk with Semafor’s Technology Editor Reed Albergotti, who focuses his coverage on AI (and other advanced tools) while also setting the overall direction and tone of Semafor’s tech coverage. Read on for details on Reed’s favorite stories, the trends he’s focused on and an insider’s update on Semafor’s progress.
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Five questions with… Reed Albergotti, Semafor
What’s your preferred way of working with PR?
I like to brainstorm with PR folks on crafting stories that are unique, break exclusive news, and also highlight their clients in well-written articles. I'm better over text message than email and sometimes miss standard press releases from people I don't know.
What’s a story you’ve read recently that you wish you’d written?
Bloomberg’s “How Did Microsoft Become the Clear Leader in AI?" by Max Chafkin and Dina Bass. It's an article that I pitched to Microsoft the day Bing chat launched. I want Semafor to become the go-to place for smart business stories. But the stories I wish I had written are really the ones I'm working on now.
What’s the biggest trend that will shape your beat over the rest of this year?
The user interface of the computer is about to change from one that involves clicking, tapping and typing to one that is largely language-based. That's a profound shift. And if that doesn't happen, it will mean all of the advances in AI have been overhyped. If that happens, we'll explain why.
Give me an update on Semafor's progress – how are things going?
Semafor is doing better than I anticipated. We hit $10 million in ad revenue last month, meaning we're on pace to match Axios in its first year and we're in an economic downturn. Our events business is also humming. The first year is the toughest and I think it's clear we're weathered the storms and are going to be on this journey for a while. I was employee #10 at The Information and helped grow the brand. That was extremely satisfying. I have a similar feeling with Semafor, but the scale is larger and I am a smaller part of it.
What are you reading right now?
"The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century's Greatest Dilemma" by Mustafa Suleyman. What's interesting is that some of the biggest luminaries in the field of AI have written books about it. Kevin Scott also wrote a great one called "Reprogramming the American Dream: From Rural America to Silicon Valley―Making AI Serve Us All."