The Media Copilot

In this episode of The Media Copilot, Pete Pachal talks with Mark Howard, Chief Operating Officer at Time, about how a century-old newsroom is adapting to a world where readers increasingly turn to AI systems for information.

Howard explains how Time approached AI not as a passing trend but as a shift in how journalism will be discovered and consumed. He walks through the decisions behind partnering with AI companies, the work required to safeguard Time’s archive, and how the Time AI Agent grew out of experiments with summaries, translations, and audio briefings.

The conversation offers a clear look at the practical choices a legacy media brand faces when it tries to stay trusted in new formats without compromising the reporting that built its reputation.

What we cover in this episode
 • How Time decided to negotiate with AI companies instead of taking an adversarial stance
 • The behind-the-scenes systems created to protect IP and track bot activity
 • The evolution from Person of the Year experiments to daily AI audio briefings to the Time AI Agent
 • Why the agent is grounded only in Time’s archive and what that means for accuracy and trust
 • How Time is approaching AI marketplaces, enterprise licensing, and the agent to agent web
 • What this shift means for the newsroom, editorial workflows, and audience relationships

Learn more
 Mark Howard on Time
 https://time.com/author/mark-howard

The Story Behind the TIME AI Agent
 https://time.com/7332572/the-story-behind-the-time-ai-agent

Mark on LinkedIn
 https://www.linkedin.com/in/markdhoward

Mark on X
 https://x.com/markdhoward 

This post was drafted with AI and then carefully edited by Media Copilot editors.

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For more AI tools and resources built for media professionals, visit MediaCopilot.ai.

Produced by Pete Pachal and Executive Producer Michele Musso
Edited by the Musso Media Team 

Music: “Favorite” by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under CC BY 4.0

© 2025 Musso Media. All rights reserved. © AnyWho Media 2025

Michael Rubenstein on how “brand agents” are reshaping advertising, publishing, and the Internet itself

We’ve spent decades trying to make digital advertising smarter. Cookies, pixels, and data exchanges promised personalization but delivered clutter, tracking fatigue, and declining returns. Then came AI, bringing the chance not just to improve ads, but to completely reimagine how brands and audiences interact.

In this episode of The Media Copilot, host Pete Pachal sits down with Michael Rubenstein, Co CEO of Firsthand and one of the original architects of modern ad tech. After helping launch DoubleClick’s Ad Exchange (later acquired by Google), Rubenstein is now building something that feels like the opposite of programmatic advertising, a world where brand “agents” don’t just target you, they talk to you.

Instead of static banners or pre-rolls, these AI-driven brand agents act like adaptive digital representatives that engage, inform, and even create content on the fly. They’re built to live anywhere, inside a publisher’s story, across a retailer’s site, or within a chat experience, meeting consumers wherever they are and responding in real time to what they actually want.

This conversation explores how brand agents are transforming advertising into an intelligent, intent driven dialogue, and what that means for publishers, marketers, and the future of media.

What We Cover:
 • How AI driven brand agents are changing advertising and media engagement
 • Why this new model removes invasive tracking and builds real consumer trust
 • How publishers can use adaptive experiences to grow audience value
 • Why AI represents not automation but communication
 • The cultural and ethical stakes of rebuilding advertising around AI conversations

In Closing
 AI is taking down the old walls of the Internet. The question isn’t whether advertising and publishing will change, it’s whether they can adapt fast enough to stay relevant.

The future, as Rubenstein says, isn’t programmatic, it’s personal.

Connect with Michael Rubenstein:
 🔗 Firsthand.ai
💼 LinkedIn – Michael Rubenstein

X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/mrubenstein99

Listen to the full episode of The Media Copilot with host Pete Pachal and guest Michael Rubenstein on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows.
 👉 Visit mediacopilot.ai for more on our classes, insights, and upcoming episodes.

(AI-assisted)

📩 Enjoyed this episode?

Subscribe to The Media Copilot on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. On YouTube?  Tap the Like button and Subscribe to the channel. 

For more AI tools and resources built for media professionals, visit MediaCopilot.ai.

Produced by Pete Pachal and Executive Producer Michele Musso
Edited by the Musso Media Team 

Music: “Favorite” by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under CC BY 4.0

Inside how AI is actually being used inside media companies today— and what success looks like when it’s done right.

In this episode of The Media Copilot podcast, Pete Pachal speaks with John Levitt, COO of Elvex, about how AI is actually being adopted inside newsrooms and media organizations today. Not the hype. Not the pitch deck version. The real workflows happening behind the scenes.

Elvex works with major media companies to build internal AI environments that support reporting, fact-checking, content repurposing, sales operations, research, and product strategy. John has a rare view into the daily shift in how teams work, collaborate, and adapt.

This conversation explores:
 • How editorial, business, and product teams are already using AI
 • Why culture and leadership framing determine whether AI succeeds
 • Where AI reduces repetitive work without replacing journalists
 • What "context engineering" means and why it matters more than prompts
 • How media companies can experiment with AI safely and responsibly
 • The next shift toward agent-to-agent workflows and personalized news experiences

If you work in media, journalism, audience growth, newsroom operations, AI product development, or leadership strategy, this episode breaks down what is actually changing and what is coming next.

GUEST: John Levitt
https://www.elvex.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnmlevitt/ 

📩 Enjoyed this episode?

Subscribe to The Media Copilot on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. On YouTube?  Tap the Like button and Subscribe to the channel.

For more AI tools and resources built for media professionals, visit MediaCopilot.ai.

Produced by Pete Pachal and Executive Producer Michele Musso
Edited by the Musso Media Team 

Music: “Favorite” by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under CC BY 4.0

© 2025 Musso Media. All rights reserved. © AnyWho Media 2025

What if AI could make us better writers instead of replacing us? The next chapter of the internet may do exactly that by using technology to strengthen creativity rather than erase it.

Tony Stubblebine, CEO of Medium, joins The Media Copilot with Pete Pachal to talk about the new reality of writing in an AI world. As algorithms reshape how stories are created and shared, Stubblebine believes we are entering a writing renaissance where technology helps writers stay focused, authentic, and connected to their readers.

They explore:

• The collapse of free-content economics and the rise of the post-Google internet

• Why Medium is betting on smaller, more human writing communities

• How AI can enhance creativity rather than erase it

• The tools that will keep writers in flow and make the act of writing joyful again

If you care about creativity, technology, and the future of storytelling, this is a conversation you should not miss.

📩 Enjoyed this episode?

Subscribe to The Media Copilot on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. On YouTube?  Tap the Like button and Subscribe to the channel. 

For more AI tools and resources built for media professionals, visit MediaCopilot.ai.

🎧 Produced by Pete Pachal and Executive Producer Michele Musso
 🎬 Edited by the Musso Media Team
© 2025 Musso Media. All rights reserved.

🎵 Music: “Favorite” by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under CC BY 4.0

© AnyWho Media 2025

What if AI could read your book, learn from it, summarize it, and remix it, all with your permission and a paycheck? Trip Adler is working to make that possible.

Trip Adler co-founded Scribd, helped pioneer book subscriptions, and knows publishing inside and out. Now he’s back with a new mission: protect human creativity in the age of AI.

In this episode of The Media Copilot, Pete Pachal talks with Trip about his latest venture, Created by Humans, a licensing platform that helps AI companies access creative works legally, starting with books. 

They dive into:

• How AI companies are scraping content without permission

• What “AI rights” actually are and why creators need to define them now

• Why licensing for training, RAG (reference), and transformation should all be separate

• How Trip’s “Fourth Law of Robotics” could reset the power dynamic between human and machine

• What the $3,000-per-book Anthropic case tells us about future settlements

• And why this could be the next big revenue stream for authors and publishers

If you're a writer, publisher, AI builder, or just someone who wants creators to get credit and compensation in the AI era, this is the conversation to hear.

What You'll Learn

Books are emerging as the front line in the battle between human creativity and artificial intelligence and understanding why is key to navigating what comes next. You'll learn how AI rights differ from traditional copyright law and why that distinction matters for anyone working in publishing, media, or technology. It also explains what AI companies can and should be paying to use creative works and how those payments change depending on whether the content is being used for training, reference, or transformation. You will come away with a clearer understanding of why these categories are not interchangeable and why defining each one is essential. Most importantly, the conversation highlights why authors deserve transparency, control, and compensation when their work helps power an AI product.

GUEST:  Trip Adler

Co-Founder of Scribd

Founder of Created by Humans 
 🔗 createdbyhumans.ai | LinkedIn 

📩 Enjoyed this episode?

Subscribe to The Media Copilot on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. On YouTube?  Tap the Like button and Subscribe to the channel. 

For more AI tools and resources built for media professionals, visit MediaCopilot.ai.

🎧 Produced by Pete Pachal and Executive Producer Michele Musso
 🎬 Edited by the Musso Media Team
© 2025 Musso Media. All rights reserved.

🎵 Music: “Favorite” by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under CC BY 4.0

© AnyWho Media 2025

As AI eats the internet, publishers are fighting to keep control. Raptive’s Chief Growth Officer, Marc McCollum, says it’s not the end of the open web, it’s a chance to rebuild it on creators’ terms.

In this episode of The Media Copilot, host Pete Pachal sits down with Marc McCollum, Chief Growth Officer at Raptive, to talk about the future of media in the age of AI.

Raptive powers over 6,000 creators and 200 enterprise publishers and Marc argues that the key to survival isn’t joining the platforms, it’s owning your audience.

From the impact of AI Overviews on search traffic to the rise of Google Discover as a quiet growth engine, they break down what’s really happening behind the analytics. Marc also calls out Big Tech’s “free-content” problem, explains why licensing and pay-per-crawl models could reshape revenue, and shares why recipe sites might just be the unsung heroes of the AI era.

If you care about the open web, creator independence, or where AI-powered media goes next—this conversation is essential.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:

• Why AI summaries are crushing clicks—and what to do about it
• How creators can stay profitable when SEO and affiliate models fall short
• Why owning your site and email list is still your best move
• What Raptive’s data reveals about traffic winners and losers in 2025
• The quiet power of Google Discover and how to make it work for you

   GUEST:  Marc McCollum, Chief Growth Officer, Raptive
   🔗 raptive.com | LinkedIn
  
  

📩 Enjoyed this episode?
Subscribe to The Media Copilot on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. On YouTube?
Tap the Like button and Subscribe to the channel 🔔

For more AI tools and resources built for media professionals, visit MediaCopilot.ai.

🎧 Produced by Pete Pachal and Executive Producer Michele Musso
 🎬 Edited by the Musso Media Team
© 2025 Musso Media. All rights reserved.

🎵 Music: “Favorite” by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under CC BY 4.0

© AnyWho Media 2025

 Local news without politics, crime, or chaos? Meet the startup making it happen.

In this episode of The Media Copilot, host Pete Pachal talks with Ryan Heafy, co-founder of 6AM City, about how his team is flipping the script on community journalism—using AI to scale responsibly while keeping human editorial judgment at the center.

Discover how they’ve expanded from a few test cities to 410+ local markets with a “Seed-to-Profit” model, how their anti-scraping strategy builds trust from the ground up, and why they just acquired controversial AI startup Good Daily—not for the headlines, but for the infrastructure.

Whether you're in media, tech, marketing, or just want smarter news in your inbox, this one's for you.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:

• How 6AM City uses AI to launch, test, and scale new markets

• Why newsletters are the future of local media—and why most will fail

• How 6AM avoids outrage bait and click-driven news

• What they really got from acquiring Good Daily

• How to build content that survives Gmail filters, TikTok scrolls, and voice assistants

• Why their inbox model might outlast traditional journalism

👥 GUEST:
 Ryan Heafy — Co-Founder & Chief Local Officer, 6AM City
 🔗 LinkedIn | 🌐 6amcity.com

📩 Enjoyed this episode?
Subscribe to The Media Copilot on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. On YouTube? Tap the Like button and Subscribe to the channel 🔔

For more AI tools and resources built for media professionals, visit MediaCopilot.ai.

🎧 Produced by Pete Pachal and Executive Producer Michele Musso
 🎬 Edited by the Musso Media Team
© 2025 Musso Media. All rights reserved.

🎵 Music: “Favorite” by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under CC BY 4.0

© AnyWho Media 2025

Social feeds turned news into a rage machine. Cory Ondrejka says it’s time for a reset! Use AI to cut the noise, respect your time, and deliver journalism that actually matters.

For years, the way we consume news has been warped by engagement algorithms that reward outrage and overwhelm. With attention hijacked and trust eroding, millions have simply tuned out. But what if AI could help fix what it broke?

On this episode of The Media Copilot, host Pete Pachal talks with Cory Ondrejka, former Facebook and Google exec (and co-creator of Second Life), now at SmartNews, where he leads the development of NewsArc; an AI-powered app that curates the best single article on each major news event. No doomscrolling, no junk summaries, and no ragebait. Just clarity, curation, and a front page you can trust.

Why this matters now:

News avoidance is at record highs, and trust in media is cratering. NewsArc offers an alternative: a shared, AI-assisted “Daily Dozen” that highlights the most informative reads, respects journalistic integrity, and compensates publishers fairly. With LLMs used for claim-checking, not content theft, the app delivers a smarter, calmer news experience for readers who want to be informed, not inflamed.

Key Topics:

🔹 Why social feeds broke the news
🔹 How NewsArc uses AI to elevate not replace journalism
🔹 The problem with summaries and the power of “claim-level” analysis
🔹 Why a shared front page matters in a polarized world
🔹 How SmartNews compensates publishers in the LLM era

🎙 Guest:
 Cory Ondrejka | EVP, SmartNews / Creator of NewsArc
LinkedIn | smartnews.com 

📩 Enjoyed this episode?
Subscribe to The Media Copilot on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app.
On YouTube? Tap the Like button and Subscribe to the channel 🔔

For more AI tools and resources built for media professionals, visit MediaCopilot.ai.

🎧 Produced by Pete Pachal and Executive Producer Michele Musso
 🎬 Edited by the Musso Media Team
© 2025 Musso Media. All rights reserved.

🎵 Music: “Favorite” by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under CC BY 4.0

© AnyWho Media 2025

 AI engines are siphoning off billions in value from publishers. 
Bill Gross says it’s time to flip the model: charge for crawls, share revenue on answers, and build the “conversation layer” that keeps audiences engaged.

If the 2010s were about gaming Google with SEO, the 2020s are about surviving AI’s takeover of distribution. Global pageviews are down 25% in a year, roughly $100B in value shifted from websites to AI engines without compensation. Bots now outnumber human visitors by staggering ratios, and publishers are footing the bill.

On this episode of The Media Copilot, host Pete Pachal talks with Bill Gross, founder of ProRata and creator of Gist AI, an ethical AI search platform backed by 750 publishers. Gross makes the case for a new deal: pay publishers when AI crawls their sites, share revenue when AI uses their work, and build experiences that move beyond “ten blue links” to true conversations with audiences.

Why this matters now:

Web traffic is plunging and is down 250 billion views a day, or about $100 billion a year in lost value. Bots now scrape far more than they give back, with Google at 12:1 and some AI engines hitting 1,200:1, leaving sites like Wikipedia footing huge server bills. Bill Gross’s solution is Gist AI, a publisher-backed search platform with 750 partners, 30 million documents, and a 50/50 revenue share model.

Key Topics:
 🔹 The economics of zero-click search
 🔹 Why one-time licensing checks won’t sustain publishers
 🔹 How “sponsored supplements” could reinvent ads in AI answers
 🔹 Why publishers should stop chasing SEO tricks and focus on true value
 🔹 What Gross calls the “conversation layer” and why it’s the next big battleground

🎙 Guest:
 Bill Gross | Founder & CEO, ProRata | https://www.linkedin.com/in/billgrossidealab 

https://gist.ai/ 

https://prorata.ai/ 

📩 And if you enjoyed this conversation, I’d encourage you to follow the show on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast app that you want. Also, I’d appreciate it if you’d leave a rating or review — it really does help the show. And if you’re on YouTube, don’t forget to “like” the video and subscribe to the channel 🔔

You can also subscribe to The Media Copilot newsletter  and visit mediacopilot.ai for exclusive resources, tools, and AI training courses built specifically for media professionals.

This episode of The Media CoPilot was produced by Pete Pachal, Executive Producer Michele Musso, and with video/audio editing by the Musso Media team. Produced by Musso Media. © 2025 Musso Media. All rights reserved.

Music: Favorite by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 4.0 License 

© AnyWho Media 2025

If the last decade was about platforms swallowing the press, the next one is about AI mediating everything…how we find news, what we trust, and who gets paid. 

On this episode of The Media Copilot, host Pete Pachal welcomes Justin Hendrix, CEO and editor of Tech Policy Press, a nonprofit dedicated to provoking debate at the intersection of technology and democracy. Hendrix’s path from The Economist to NYC Media Lab to founding a policy newsroom, shapes a rare perspective; he speaks policy, product, and press. Who sets the rules for AI and media—industry, government, or the public? Justin Hendrix argues the answer starts with competition policy and ends with better equilibria for democracy.

Topics we cover

🔹 Copyright and AI training: The battle between fair use and “giant theft,” why the U.S. path may be decided in court, and how commercialization complicates the ethics.

 🔹 Power concentration: How antitrust and the Digital Markets Act could serve as tectonic levers to rebalance control between platforms and publishers.

 🔹 Quality versus “good enough”: AI hallucinations, the shift to AI as the first stop for answers, and what’s at stake when accuracy is the product.

 🔹 The “beat China” argument: Why urgency-driven narratives risk steamrolling communities, due process, and environmental review in the name of AI infrastructure.

 🔹 Search, remedies, and AI distribution: What Google’s antitrust outcomes could mean for AI-driven search and publisher leverage.

 🔹 Where media could go next: Licensing to AI agents, building owned agents, or a future where AI firms hire thousands of journalists themselves.

 🔹 Policy capacity and trust: Why the government’s tech knowledge gap matters and how Tech Policy Press is helping close it for lawmakers and regulators.

 🔹 Behavior shift: From NPR commutes to chatbot conversations, and the emerging risks of AI companionship and blurred lines between utility and dependency.

Guest: Justin Hendrix — CEO/Editor

Tech Policy Press :https://www.techpolicy.press/ 

📩 And if you enjoyed this conversation, I’d encourage you to follow the show on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast app that you want. Also, I’d appreciate it if you’d leave a rating or review — it really does help the show. And if you’re on YouTube, don’t forget to “like” the video and subscribe to the channel 🔔

You can also subscribe to The Media Copilot newsletter  and visit mediacopilot.ai for exclusive resources, tools, and AI training courses built specifically for media professionals.

This episode of The Media CoPilot was produced by Pete Pachal, Executive Producer Michele Musso, and with video/audio editing by the Musso Media team. Produced by Musso Media. © 2025 Musso Media. All rights reserved.

Music: Favorite by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 4.0 License 

© AnyWho Media 2025