The Upgrade: Beyond the Hype Peter Bittner

David Arkin has more than two decades of experience in audience and content which he now uses as a consultant helping publications better hone their strategies for SEO, content and social media. Among his diverse skill set, David has immersed himself in the development of AI technology with an eye toward how it can help publications to both become more efficient and grow their businesses. On this week’s episode of The Upgrade, host Peter Bittner talks with David about the best ways media comp...

Wes Shields started his new venture, Synthminds, almost by accident. A rather obsessive interest with exploring AI inspired him to offer his knowledge as an AI consultant on Upwork. To his surprise, the company eventually promoted him on their platform as one of the world’s “top AI experts” – that’s Upwork’s words, not his. Shields went on to found the AI consulting company Synthminds, which helps organizations and individuals better understand AI. In this week’s episode of The Upgrade,...

When Erin McNeill became a mother she started developing strategies for how to best educate her kids about media literacy. As a reporter who used to cover Congress, Erin eventually realized she could use her knowledge about the legislative process to improve media literacy for students all over the country. Her organization, Media Literacy Now, has helped pass state bills that improved how the subject is taught and developed resources to aid teachers all over the country to create lesson plan...

Peter Frelik’s path to becoming a storyteller began seeing a matinee of a James Bond film as a kid and eventually led him to becoming a feature film editor for Hollywood and a director of commercials. AI image generators will soon make it possible for most anyone to produce a blockbuster from their own living room. But instead of crowding the field, Peter believes AI has the power to help established filmmakers and creatives to better succeed. In this episode of The Upgrade, the Peters talk a...

John Biggs imagines a time in the near future where a human editor will manage a team of robot journalists using AI to report the news. A programmer turned journalist, Biggs is now co-founder of The Media Copilot, a consulting and media group that examines how AI is changing journalism and the news. In this episode of The Upgrade, Biggs spoke with host Peter Bittner about AI’s effect on the media industry and what newsrooms of the future might look like.Show Notes:(00:26) John talks about the...

During the pandemic Jeremy Toeman tried – and, as he puts it, failed dismally – at editing a video preview of his podcast. That experience gave him the idea to create an AI-powered tool to help novices put together a video instantly. The Upgrade’s host Peter Bittner talked with Jeremy about his latest venture Aug X Labs and how to ethically build a new platform powered by generative AI in the age of deep fakes. This episode was recorded at the end of 2023 before the release of Sora, OpenAI’s ...