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 | https://www.smartnews.com/en Creator of NewsArc | https://www.newsarc.com/ LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/coryondrejka 📩 Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to The Media Copilot on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. 🎧 Produced by Pete Pachal and Executive Producer Michele Musso 🎬 Edited by the Musso Media Team | https://www.mussomedia.com/ © 2025 Musso Media. All rights reserved. 🎵 Music: “Favorite” by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under CC BY 4.0 © AnyWho Media 2025

Who Gets Paid When AI Uses Your Work? In this episode of The Media Copilot, Pete Pachal talks with Bill Gross about how AI platforms are built on the backs of creators—and why it’s time for a revenue sharing model that includes them. Just like musicians earn royalties and YouTubers earn ad revenue, Bill argues that writers and journalists should be compensated when their work powers AI. Listen now to hear how GistAI is creating a more equitable future for media in the AI era. 🔗 Full episode: https://youtu.be/JOxY3SXUrP4 #AI #Creators #TechPodcast #RevenueSharing #GistAI #LLM #ProRata #FutureOfMedia

Websites are facing traffic declines as AI answers questions directly. But there’s a solution: bring search back in-house. By offering AI-powered search directly on their sites, publishers can: ✅ Keep users engaged ✅ Modernize revenue models ✅ Leverage LLMs for a level playing field This episode of The Media Copilot with host Pete Pachal and guest Bill Gross (serial founder, Idealab & ProRata) explores how publishers can take back control of discovery. Full Episode: https://youtu.be/JOxY3SXUrP4 #websitetraffic #AIsearch #LLMs #revenue #engagement #MediaCopilotPodcast

AI engines are siphoning off billions in value from publishers. 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

Rushing into decisions without considering laws and regulations may not be the best approach when dealing with China. Some argue it’s less about urgency and more about avoiding deeper thinking on critical global issues. Full episode: https://youtu.be/IoDSFaYOqRc #China #Politics #WorldAffairs