Cory Bergman
@corybe.com
Cofounder and chief product officer @factal.com. Journalist entrepreneur, AI nerd. Former Breaking News, NBC News. Seattle
Joys of camping: book spot one year out, battle traffic for hours, pull into a packed parking lot with trees, listen to kids complain about crap internet, fall asleep early exhausted, wake 1 am 2 am then 3 am, fall down in the dark trying to pee, up at 5 am, leave early after kids threaten mutiny.
August 9, 2025 at 3:48 AM
Joys of camping: book spot one year out, battle traffic for hours, pull into a packed parking lot with trees, listen to kids complain about crap internet, fall asleep early exhausted, wake 1 am 2 am then 3 am, fall down in the dark trying to pee, up at 5 am, leave early after kids threaten mutiny.
Just got GPT-5 and the first test (oddly I know) is whether voice mode can speak in Spanglish. Passed with flying colors, switching back and forth flawlessly for the first time.
August 8, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Just got GPT-5 and the first test (oddly I know) is whether voice mode can speak in Spanglish. Passed with flying colors, switching back and forth flawlessly for the first time.
Reposted by Cory Bergman
The Niche Machine is here. We are now not just seeing AI slop about current events and natural disasters, we are seeing hyperpersonalized AI slop that combines "news" and disinformation with any interest / celebrity / hobby you could possibly imagine
www.404media.co/the-ai-slop-...
www.404media.co/the-ai-slop-...
The Hyperpersonalized AI Slop Silo Machine Is Here
We are on a path to where social media will feed you hyperpersonalized AI slop about anything and everything.
www.404media.co
July 15, 2025 at 6:32 PM
The Niche Machine is here. We are now not just seeing AI slop about current events and natural disasters, we are seeing hyperpersonalized AI slop that combines "news" and disinformation with any interest / celebrity / hobby you could possibly imagine
www.404media.co/the-ai-slop-...
www.404media.co/the-ai-slop-...
“We have never graduated coders. We have always graduated software engineers.” www.geekwire.com/2025/coding-...
Coding is dead: UW computer science program rethinks curriculum for the AI era
The University of Washington's Allen School is rethinking how to train the next generation of software engineers in an AI-dominated job market.
www.geekwire.com
July 12, 2025 at 3:17 AM
“We have never graduated coders. We have always graduated software engineers.” www.geekwire.com/2025/coding-...
@theverge.com Hey how can I tell on mobile web which story is free and which is premium?
July 12, 2025 at 3:11 AM
@theverge.com Hey how can I tell on mobile web which story is free and which is premium?
Reposted by Cory Bergman
Of course it did. And there will be more reports like this. www.nbcnews.com/world/europe...
Swedish bodyguards' fitness app data reveals private locations of royal family
Data from bodyguards' Strava apps showed the royals took trips to a private island in the Seychelles and to a luxury villa on the French Riviera.
www.nbcnews.com
July 10, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Of course it did. And there will be more reports like this. www.nbcnews.com/world/europe...
Amazing how much CGI looks Ike AI now.
July 8, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Amazing how much CGI looks Ike AI now.
Seattle is at risk of becoming an “old tech” town — nearly all AI innovation is squarely back in Silicon Valley/SF. Microsoft is powering a big part of it, but faces increasing risks as AI upends software ecosystems. Amazon… ugh… had a huge head start with Alexa, and now…?
July 3, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Seattle is at risk of becoming an “old tech” town — nearly all AI innovation is squarely back in Silicon Valley/SF. Microsoft is powering a big part of it, but faces increasing risks as AI upends software ecosystems. Amazon… ugh… had a huge head start with Alexa, and now…?
Microsoft cuts people to help offset the high cost of AI data centers. Then as AI gets even better, it will cut more people. Double whammy for tech workers.
July 2, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Microsoft cuts people to help offset the high cost of AI data centers. Then as AI gets even better, it will cut more people. Double whammy for tech workers.
Reposted by Cory Bergman
Worst Father's Day JCPenney ad photos ever.
July 2, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Worst Father's Day JCPenney ad photos ever.
Fascinating data point from Cloudflare’s CEO: click rates to AI source citations are plummeting because people trust the results more. In a ratio of pages scraped to search visitors, OpenAI was 250:1 six months ago, now 1500:1. m.youtube.com/watch?v=H5C9...
Axios’ Sara Fischer in conversation with Cloudflare’s Matthew Prince
YouTube video by Axios
m.youtube.com
July 2, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Fascinating data point from Cloudflare’s CEO: click rates to AI source citations are plummeting because people trust the results more. In a ratio of pages scraped to search visitors, OpenAI was 250:1 six months ago, now 1500:1. m.youtube.com/watch?v=H5C9...
Reposted by Cory Bergman
A moderately common event is someone confidently tells me that LLMs can't solve their specific puzzle, I whack it in o3, it spins up a python programme that solves it in 12 seconds, and it turns out the person had only ever tested it on the free versions of ChatGPT and Grok
June 24, 2025 at 1:28 PM
A moderately common event is someone confidently tells me that LLMs can't solve their specific puzzle, I whack it in o3, it spins up a python programme that solves it in 12 seconds, and it turns out the person had only ever tested it on the free versions of ChatGPT and Grok
Reposted by Cory Bergman
New from 404 Media: ICE is using a new facial recognition app to identify people, leaked emails show. Point camera at person, reveal their identity. It uses the CBP system that records peoples' faces as they enter or exit the U.S. Now, turned inwards to be used by ICE www.404media.co/ice-is-using...
ICE Is Using a New Facial Recognition App to Identify People, Leaked Emails Show
The new tool, called Mobile Fortify, uses the CBP system which ordinarily takes photos of people when they enter or exit the U.S., according to internal ICE emails viewed by 404 Media. Now ICE is usin...
www.404media.co
June 26, 2025 at 4:45 PM
New from 404 Media: ICE is using a new facial recognition app to identify people, leaked emails show. Point camera at person, reveal their identity. It uses the CBP system that records peoples' faces as they enter or exit the U.S. Now, turned inwards to be used by ICE www.404media.co/ice-is-using...
Good overview of how AI is playing a larger roll in elections — for better or worse. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/t...
A.I. Is Starting to Wear Down Democracy
www.nytimes.com
June 26, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Good overview of how AI is playing a larger roll in elections — for better or worse. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/t...
Unsurprising — and as AI makes it easier to get the news, fewer Americans will pay (at least directly).
In the past year, only 17% of Americans have paid for news, per Pew
The #1 reason they give is that the information is available free elsewhere
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
The #1 reason they give is that the information is available free elsewhere
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
Few Americans pay for news when they encounter paywalls
Among adults who have not paid for news in the past year, the most common reason they cite is that they can find plenty of other news articles for free.
www.pewresearch.org
June 26, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Unsurprising — and as AI makes it easier to get the news, fewer Americans will pay (at least directly).
Reposted by Cory Bergman
I like this. Context engineering.
June 25, 2025 at 6:05 PM
I like this. Context engineering.
Not a fan of these kinds of user surveys. Reducing information friction is always popular if you design it well. Users struggle to articulate features — or even recognize that AI is at play. Anti-AI fears skew numbers, too. 1/2
The success of these tools will largely depend on how keen audiences are to use them in the first place, and there are big regional and demographic differences. www.niemanlab.org/2025/06/ai-p...
AI-personalized news takes new forms (but do readers want it?)
Many outlets have been personalizing news recommendations for years, but generative AI introduces the possibility to personalize news formats.
www.niemanlab.org
June 25, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Not a fan of these kinds of user surveys. Reducing information friction is always popular if you design it well. Users struggle to articulate features — or even recognize that AI is at play. Anti-AI fears skew numbers, too. 1/2
When someone is talking with their AI in voice mode, it’s rude to interrupt. 😏
June 24, 2025 at 1:53 AM
When someone is talking with their AI in voice mode, it’s rude to interrupt. 😏
Reposted by Cory Bergman
We as a community are rooting for Indy and not this dishonorable basketball, yes?
Lu Dort draws a foul on Bennedict Mathurin in the backcourt
June 23, 2025 at 1:20 AM
We as a community are rooting for Indy and not this dishonorable basketball, yes?
AI is changing how we speak www.theverge.com/openai/68674...
You sound like ChatGPT
AI isn’t just impacting how we write — it’s changing how we speak and interact with others. And there’s only more to come.
www.theverge.com
June 21, 2025 at 8:07 PM
AI is changing how we speak www.theverge.com/openai/68674...
Completely agree, and feeds and lists don’t help when there’s so little niche content to begin with. If engagement mostly rewards political posts, there’s not much incentive to post anything else. The architecture invites content diversity but the culture discourages it.
to me the biggest problem with bluesky is that politics dominates this place. that makes sense, i assume most of us left twitter for political reasons. but there's not enough chat about other things on here. there used to be, but not anymore. you get a little of the old twitter on big sports nights
June 21, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Completely agree, and feeds and lists don’t help when there’s so little niche content to begin with. If engagement mostly rewards political posts, there’s not much incentive to post anything else. The architecture invites content diversity but the culture discourages it.
Excellent thread 💯
🧵 I often talk about VDA, Verification, Deliberation, Accountability, as the core functions that make democracy possible. But to understand what’s gone wrong, we need to look at how those functions have changed.
June 21, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Excellent thread 💯