The Brown Institute for Media Innovation in partnership with Hearst and OpenAI is pleased to announce the AI and Journalism Summit, a one-day conference examining the evolving relationship between artificial intelligence and news, from lab to newsroom to reader. The summit will be held on Tuesday, December 16, 2025 in New York, and will convene reporters and editors, product managers, technologists, researchers, and executives from across the media and technology space.
The AI and Journalism Summit is an invitation-only gathering designed to foster candid conversations across newsroom, academic, and technology communities. Through panels and structured discussions, participants will examine AI strategy and partnerships, concrete newsroom uses of AI, discuss how models and systems are designed and governed, explore emerging capabilities, and consider what audience behavior can tell us about the future of the information ecosystem.
The day will feature a mix of conversations and panel discussions organized around several critical themes.
Program Overview
AI Roadmaps, Partnerships & Contracts
How news organizations are defining their AI strategies, collaborating with technology partners, and thinking about the future of the information ecosystem
Panelists include:
Liam Andrew, American Journalism Project
Maggie Farley, ICFJ
Varun Shetty, OpenAI
Ben Werdmuller, ProPublica
Moderated by Jeremy Gilbert, Northwestern University
Understanding Model Behavior & System Prompts
A deep dive into how models behave, how system prompts shape that behavior, and the role, opportunity, and challenges for news organizations relying on these systems.
Samir Patel, Editor-in-Chief, Quanta in conversation with Chloe Bakalar, AI Ethics, Member of Technical Staff, OpenAI
Deployed Systems – Moving beyond experimentation to scaled deployment
How news organizations are moving from prototypes to production systems, including safety measures, testing, and evaluation strategies.
Panelists include:
Gina Chua, Semafor
Chase Davis, Hot Type
Lauren Klein, Emory University (aiai.network)
Tim O’Rourke, Hearst Newspapers
Troy Thibodeaux, Associated Press
Moderated by Amanda Cox, Bloomberg News
New Emergent Product Capabilities – From Agents to MCP
A look at emerging AI product capabilities — from agents to new orchestration frameworks like MCP — and how news organizations can identify responsible deployment opportunities.
Panelists include:
Maneesh Agrawala, Stanford University and the Brown Institute
Florent Daudens, Mizal.ai
Yiren Lu, OpenAI
Moderated by Mike Ananny, USC (Annenberg)
Audience Shifts – Understanding traffic impacts and a post-search world
How audience behavior is changing as AI tools alter search, discovery, and consumption patterns — and how news organizations are positioning themselves for a post-search world.
Panelists include:
Patrick Boehler, formerly The New York Times
Katie Vandervalk, Hearst Magazines
Karl Wells, The Washington Post
Moderated by Gilad Lotan, BuzzFeed
Reflections and Futures
A synthesis of the day’s insights and a look at the emerging opportunities, risks, and direction of AI in journalism.
Patty Michalski, SVP Content Strategy and Innovation at Hearst Newspapers in conversation with Sisi Wei, Chief Impact Officer at The Markup and CalMatters
Schedule of Events
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 9:00–10:00 AM | Check-in and Breakfast |
| 10:00–10:15 AM | Welcome |
| 10:15–11:15 AM | AI Roadmaps and Partnerships |
| 11:15 AM–12:00 PM | Understanding Model Behavior |
| 12:00–1:00 PM | Lunch |
| 1:00–2:15 PM | Deployed Systems |
| 2:15–3:00 PM | New Emergent Product Capabilities |
| 3:15–4:15 PM | Audience Shifts |
| 4:15–4:45 PM | Closing Remarks (Reflections and Futures) |
| 5:00-6:00PM | Reception |
Additional program details and logistical information will be shared directly with invited participants. For inquiries, please contact the Brown Institute at browninstitute@columbia.edu