Can Journalism Schools Teach AI Without Losing the Craft?

Host Jason Michael Perry sits down with Derek Willis, a lecturer at the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism and affiliate professor at AIM — Maryland's Artificial Intelligence Interdisciplinary Institute — to explore what happens when the newsroom's most powerful new tool is also its most dangerous. In this episode, they dig into how journalism schools are preparing the next generation of reporters for a world where AI can draft articles, fabricate quotes, and produce content at a speed no human can match. Derek draws on years inside The New York Times, ProPublica, and The Washington Post to talk about where AI actually helps journalists, why his "Team Luddite" classroom experiment keeps proving human skill still matters, and how educators teach craft during a technological transition where nobody knows the end state. Podcast Notes & Links An AI Upheaval Is Coming for Media. This Journalist Is Already All In – Wall Street Journal Union Denounces AI-Generated News Stories as Baltimore Sun Management Predicts More of Them – Baltimore Brew AP's Approach to Artificial Intelligence Principles for Using Generative AI in the Times's Newsroom – New York Times The Baltimore Banner's Approach to AI Editor's Note: Retraction of Article Containing Fabricated Quotations – Ars Technica Ars Technica Fires Senior AI Reporter After AI-Generated Quotes Scandal – Futurism An AI Agent Published a Hit Piece on Me – Scott Shambaugh Subscribe & Contact Subscribe to the Thoughts on Tech & Things newsletter: jasonmperry.com/newsletter Send feedback, questions, or guest suggestions: jasonmperry.com/contact Credits Thanks to the team at WYPR, our producers Sam Bermas-Dawes and Shania Mapson, and Myrna Martinez, Head of Operations and Marketing at PerryLabs.