People vs Algorithms

We start with Charlie Warzel’s essay in The Atlantic, “AI Is a Mass-Delusion Event”, a sober reframing of where we are with AI right now. Pablos insists LLMs are “average engines,” not wisdom machines—good at language, terrible at judgment. Stop anthropomorphizing. These are tools that make daily processes cheaper, faster, or more efficient. Drop illusions of creativity or sentience. From there, we shift to the next disruption wave: hard tech. Pablos sketches self‑sailing wind cargo ships, space‑based solar that beams power down, and small borehole nuclear reactors. He argues hyperscalers’ compute demands will inadvertently fast‑track clean energy. We finish on media. Why Michael Wolff’s perfectly framed summertime Amagansett Instagram missives find beautiful tension reframing sharp political commentary as a kind of lifestyle content. Good media always finds new intersectionality. Enjoy these last wonderful weeks of summer.

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Chapters:

* 00:00 Open

* 00:36 Welcome

* 03:48 AI, what is it good for?

* 21:16 Is AI conscious or not?

* 25:14 What's next in tech innovation?

* 35:24 Is it worth the investment?

* 39:52 Exciting or Scary Tech

* 42:44 The Force of Media

* 55:47 Good Product

Plus: the case for media cooperatives and aperitivo, and why running agencies inside publishers is tough.

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* Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer's Human Computer

* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:

* 00:00 Open

* 00:31 Welcome

* 01:41 Summer Stories

* 02:30 Food 52

* 13:17 Newsette

* 15:46 GenZ vs AOL

* 18:07 GPT 5

* 20:16 Chatbots vs Loneliness

* 32:30 Travel Log: Italy

* 35:41 Media Co-ops

* 42:28 Good Product

* 46:26 Outro

We explore how new tools like Snipd and AI chat bots promise frictionless access to knowledge, but may be trading comprehension for convenience. Along the way: the slow death of the open web, the rise of moral disgust with AI-generated culture, and the parallel media worlds being built by tech and alternative voices. At the center of it all is a question: are we getting smarter, or just better at pretending we are?

* Watch us on YouTube

* Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer's Human Computer

* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:

* 00:00 Open

* 00:35 Intro

* 05:12 Welcome

* 08:30 Quick Hits: Google Traffic

* 15:43 Processing Information

* 37:27 Moral Disgust With AI

* 46:44 Parallel Media Worlds

* 54:42 Outro

These aren’t companies operating in a different industry than media; they’re different universes. They’re hoarding compute, restarting nuclear reactors, and offering $1 billion pay packages to AI superstars—while laying off hired help.

Meanwhile, The New York Times gets over $20 million a year from Amazon in an AI licensing deal that almost no other publisher can touch. The superintelligence economy is starting to look like the ultimate winners-take-all system.

We also debate whether the American Eagle Sydney Sweeney ad campaign was designed to provoke, Astronomer’s quick turnaround to make lemonade out of its CEO and HR head’s Coldplay dalliance and why AI models are inevitable but won’t be like what we saw in the Guess campaign in Vogue.

* Watch us on YouTube

* Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer's Human Computer

* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:

* 00:00 Open

* 00:50 Welcome

* 04:36 Vox Media

* 15:08 NY Times Deal

* 20:01 Meta Returns

* 28:04 Superintelligence

* 47:02 Advertising & New Path To Attention

* 01:05:12 Good Product

* 01:15:27 Outro

As the old order gives way, the contours of the new media world are coming into view: video and audio are eating text, performance and participation are mandatory, individuals matter more than formats, and being a brand is better than being a publisher.We get into the Washington Post’s third-newsroom experiment, the rise of Pablo Torre's performance investigative journalism, and why Colbert was AOL-dead long before the cancellation. Also: TikTok talent flight, the return of conspiracy as entertainment, and why most magazine brands are now running some version of the Forbes playbook.

* Watch us on YouTube

* Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer's Human Computer

* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

The valuation is a classic bet on potential vs reality, as Substack’s execution has been spotty. We unpack the bet on creating an OnlyFans-like network, presumably with less risqué content. Plus: the mini-pivot to livestreams, AI's brand problem with Gen Z, Google Discover gets compressed, the power shift to golf YouTube, and AI coming for Excel jockeys because nothing is sacred.

* Watch us on YouTube

* Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer's Human Computer

* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:

* 00:00 Open

* 01:01 Welcome

* 07:49 Substack

* 16:28 OnlyFans

* 23:12 Free Press

* 30:01 Google Discover

* 34:31 Rufuss

* 36:09 TITV

* 43:31 AI Spreadsheet Maker

* 51:54 AI Slop

* 59:53 Good Product

* 01:05:52 Outro

The real issue isn’t that AI killed media. It’s that the old distribution ecosystem has broken down. Plus: the end of Demand Media and Linda Yaccarino’s tenure as X CEO; the coming AI browser wars; why Gen Z skips to the comments; and the afterlife of dead flowers as potpourri.

* Watch us on YouTube

* Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer's Human Computer

* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:

* 00:00 Open

* 00:24 Welcome

* 01:21 Linda Yaccarino Stepped Down

* 17:19 AI Skapegoat

* 29:24 Gen Z Media Habits Study

* 41:43 AI vs The Browser

* 53:14 Good Product

* 55:13 Substack Potential

* 57:05 Outro

This week, we talk about the collapse of traditional advertising, the rise of memetic political communicators like Zohran Mamdani, why words might not matter much longer, and whether publishers fighting back against AI bots is folly. We also get into the cognitive toll of generative AI, the backlash to wealth spectacle, and how grilling large-format meats is at the heart of middle-aged American masculinity.

* Watch us on YouTube

* Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer's Human Computer

* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:

* 00:00 Open

* 00:42 Welcome

* 02:25 Mamdani Phenomenon

* 14:14 Pusillanimous Paramount

* 21:12 Wealth Smugness

* 25:39 Agency Business & The Ad World

* 38:16 AI vs Writing

* 46:43 AI vs Publishing Industry

* 56:08 Good Product

* 59:36 Outro

Plus: the AI disconnect in Cannes, Momdani’s media savvy and the case for European fruits and park’s supremacy.

* Watch us on YouTube

* Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer's Human Computer

* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:

* 00:00 Open

* 00:51 Welcome

* 01:36 Smaller Media M&A

* 06:59 Substack's Raising Money

* 15:23 No AI In Cannes

* 28:34 Post Text Media

* 32:08 Sports Obsession in Media

* 37:07 F-bomb Moment

* 43:23 Travel Notes

* 49:17 Good Product

* 53:47 Outro

We take a mostly optimistic view of publishing in the AI era, even if Neil allows that search traffic will inexorably trend to zero. Plus: A path to publisher leverage against AI companies.

* Watch us on YouTube

* Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletter

* Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletter

* Alex Schleifer's Human Computer

* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:

* 00:00 PvA Live @ Cannes

* 01:00 Welcome to PvA @ Cannes

* 02:16 Sustainable Media Ecosystem Of The Future

* 08:54 Changes in Advertising

* 18:11 Google's Reaction

* 22:01 AI Media Deals

* 35:38 Consolidation of Publishers

* 40:09 Q&A

* 44:36 Outro