Where do we even start?

Over the last decade I have spent a lot of time thinking about the future of digital information environments. 

That thinking drove me to create Rootcause - because the paradigm shift into the age of AI will require progressive organisations to develop new skills and new strategies to build a better world. 

Hopefully you’ve noticed by now that I think the use of AI will be an important part of these new approaches. Yet this is only a small part of a much bigger picture. 

That bigger picture is complicated and multi-dimensional. At its centre is the future of democracy. Also in frame are other issues around sustainable journalism, disinformation, public trust, social media platform accountability and the future impact of AI on all of these things. 

I recently wrote about my take on all of this in an essay called Sword & Shield. One of the most common pieces of feedback from that work was ‘What do you want to do about this’?

Winning the Fight for the Future of Information

Some of this work is already happening. Where it is being done it’s being done with varying degrees of success and varying amounts of funding. 

My view is that the political aspects of the problem are the ones where we are least well equipped to make progress. 

I’m keen to hear people’s thoughts about the list so do reply to this email if you’ve got feedback. 

Otherwise, normal service will resume next week with an introduction to our second applied AI experiment. 

Best

Jonathan