Tory Lysik

Three sessions at NICAR stuck with me. One explored the AI data center boom, another examined how AI is already woven into newsroom workflows, often without people noticing it, and a third focused on doing data work in small communities. What struck me was how all three sessions told different sides of the same story. Major newsrooms have moved beyond debating whether to use AI and are now grappling with how to edit and manage it. The data centers powering this shift are getting built in the same small towns the third panel's reporters cover. And those reporters are doing the work with way fewer resources. Same story, three unique angles!

AI is everywhere in journalism now, and many journalists use it without even realizing it. That was the loudest thing I heard all week. AI tools are already shaping copy review, sourcing, and data analysis. The work now is editing around AI, knowing when to slow down, when to question a framing, and when to dig when an answer comes too easily.

But that's mostly the big places. Talking to reporters from smaller and local orgs, many are still figuring out what they can trust, often without the training or time their peers at larger newsrooms have. That gap is real, and it will shape what I do next. I want to be more open about how I'm using AI in my own work, share what works with people in smaller newsrooms, and start treating this stuff as something actually to report on, not just use.

Attending in person changed things. It put me in rooms with reporters and editors I'd only ever read about, and I came back with new contacts, new tools to try, and a clearer sense of where my work fits in the broader journalism world. More than anything, it reminded me that we all belong to this community, not just to the periphery. That's a door that stays open!