Dear Reader,

“Resistance is useless.” In a nutshell that is what AI companies and their media boosters want you to believe. Only a luddite would refuse to use AI to write “content”. If you don’t get with the program, you’ll get left behind.

It’s specious reasoning, and it has a name: “the fallacy of inevitability”. The fallacy suggests that we don’t have a choice even though we do, as A. G. Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times demonstrated last week in a stirring speech on “AI, Journalism, and the Uncertain Future of the Public Square.”

Resistance is possible, he argued, but it requires journalism “so good it has its own gravity”. “The heart of that is original reporting,” he said.  “The public has no other source for this work. Neither does AI.” 

When I read those words, I cheered.  

At The Conversation, we are all-in on people-powered journalism. We employ dozens of experienced journalists. We publish original articles that draw on deep expertise. 

We know we have a chance to contribute to a better-informed and human-led future, but to stay the course, we need your help. We’re halfway through our annual fundraising campaign. Please support us with a donation of any amount you can afford. 

If you give before the end of this week two of our key supporters will double your donation. 

The Brian M Davis Charitable Foundation is generously supporting our efforts to provide quality journalism for more young people through video and social media. The Nelson Meers Foundation is kindly helping us to expand our arts coverage.

We are privileged to work with like-minded people who want to build a better future, one in which young people can be well-informed, the arts can flourish, and we can be part of a community rather than merely consumers. Please help us, and read us, and never forget that the choice is yours.

Best wishes, 

Misha Ketchell
Editor