Who Owns Your Expertise in the Age of AI? Onix Wants to Give It Back to You

On this episode of The Media Copilot, Pete Pachal sits down with Onix co-founders David Bennahum and Nicholas Nadeau to explore a very different model for AI: one where experts own specialized AI systems built around their knowledge, voice, judgment and point of view.They discuss why smaller, domain-specific models may sometimes outperform general-purpose AI, how Onix incorporates knowledge that has never appeared online, and why authorship, privacy and data sovereignty could become increasingly important as AI evolves.The conversation also tackles the business side of expert-owned AI: Can creators turn their expertise into an AI product? Can journalists do it? What happens when an AI becomes an authorized extension of a person’s knowledge? And can experts actually participate economically in the value AI creates?Plus, Pete challenges the Onix founders on hallucinations, model accuracy, scalability and what happens when expert-owned AI moves beyond health and wellness.Key topics include: AI and intellectual property Expert-owned AI Small language models vs. frontier models Data privacy and sovereignty AI hallucinations Creator monetization The future of journalism and knowledge work The emerging “author economy”Try Onix: Onix.life    |  Media Copilot early-access code: COPILOT🔗 About the 👤 GuestsDavid S. Bennahum | Co-Founder & CEO, Onix. | https://www.linkedin.com/in/dbennahum Nicholas Nadeau, Ph.D., P.Eng. |  Co-Founder & CTO, Onix.| https://ca.linkedin.com/in/engnadeau _____About the show: To explore more conversations like this and see what’s new, visit the Media Copilot website at mediacopilot.ai. You’ll find new episodes, expanded resources, and tools designed for journalists, communicators, and media leaders navigating the fast-changing world of AI. It’s the home base for everything Media Copilot and it’s just getting started.Enjoyed this episode?Subscribe to The Media Copilot on Substack, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite app. On YouTube? Tap the Like button and Subscribe to the YouTube channel. For more AI tools and resources built for media professionals, visit mediacopilot.ai.Produced by Pete Pachal and Executive Producer Michele MussoEdited by the Musso Media Team Music: “Favorite” by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under CC BY 4.0All rights reserved. © AnyWho Media 2026