Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff
Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff
Douglas Rushkoff
Can Journalism Survive AI? (w/The Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson)
1 hour Posted Jul 31, 2026 at 6:00 am.
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1:00:41
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Show notes

As President of The Atlantic and former Editor-in-Chief of Wired, Nicholas Thompson sits down with Rushkoff to discuss the precarious intersection of artificial intelligence, journalism, and American democracy.

Thompson breaks down how The Atlantic turned its business around using paywall optimization, why they chose to form a partnership with OpenAI instead of solely fighting them in court, and the economic incentives driving AI versus traditional social media.

Together, they explore the dangers of anthropomorphizing tech, the flaws in framing the U.S.–China tech dynamic as a winner-take-all race, and what it takes to protect an independent press.

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