People sometimes ask me what sources I read to keep up with the AI sector.
The reality is that I spend a lot of my time skimming academic research articles by smart people from prestigious universities, looking for nuggets of new information I might incorporate for thought leadership content, as well as conversations with clients as part of my B2B tech PR remit.
Sure, academic research can be on the dry side, but it keeps me sharp on the latest AI technology and trends and helps me cut through the noise from AI vendor marketing. And tools that aren’t kept sharp become dull. Fast.
However, I do take some levity from the technical academia firehose in the form of blogs, newsletters and other sources from experts who distill that often dry academia into serviceable content that is as much a pleasure to read for its polemics as for the information it contains.
It’s fair to call me an omnivore when it comes to consuming AI content.
What trade publications CIOs read
But given my decade-plus focus on IT leaders, I must also have other go-to sources for AI content. That academic research and those blogs? They don’t treat the AI ideas through the lens of enterprise IT leaders, such as CIOs, who have become my audience to write for and read about. Such content helps me keep up with and understand CIO buying decisions, as well as where IT leaders get AI news.
This is a big reason why I’ve been reading InformationWeek more of late and why PR professionals pitching AI stories to CIO-targeted publications should look there daily.
When I arrive at the digital front door of the tech trade media destination, I’m treated to a buffet of AI-oriented content targeted at IT leaders.
Apart from the articles about Anthropic’s incredible and terrifying Mythos model, there are plenty of articles about how CIOs and CTOs incorporate AI, including the salient topic of how accelerated deployment is the enemy of scaling new technologies.
Content about how AI infrastructure is coming for enterprise IT budgets. Stories about risk management. As well as coverage of and interviews with the practitioners themselves: the very IT leaders tasked with putting governance and guardrails around emerging technologies.
This included an article in which Priceline’s CTO weighed in on how she looks for IT leaders who can both hold a room and have the know-how to get their hands dirty.
There’s even a treatment of how Meta is building a version of CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Cool and scary, like chocolate and bacon, peanut butter and pickles and watermelon and feta. Ungodly to believe these combinations go together, but the science of taste, umami and other alchemy says they do. In short, how could you not click on this if you’re working in enterprise technology PR?
How do I know that this appeals to IT leader audiences? Because they’ve told me as much, both directly when I’ve asked them and indirectly through their anecdotes about what has worked and just as importantly, what hasn’t over their years of leading IT teams.
How PR agencies reach CIOs and CTOs
Great, you say. But why should PR professionals care about what some IT leaders like to read? And why now?
Glad you asked. The answer to the latter question is that AI is white hot, and IT leaders are making and breaking their careers trying to implement and/or build it.
The former question boils down to money and access. CIOs, CTOs and chief AI officers are essentially getting blank checks from their CEOs to implement AI solutions. And even the savviest IT leaders with the deepest benches can’t do this alone. They require the help of vendors. Specifically, the kind of brands PR experts are pitching to media publications like InformationWeek to get their companies and clients noticed and, ultimately, boost revenues.
Because make no mistake, it’s AI that is carrying IT spending. Sure, IT leaders still need more servers, storage and networking for various reasons. But they’re obsessed with integrating AI and other emerging technologies into their IT portfolios, and more importantly, their IT teams.
Personally, I enjoy all the topics I outlined above. Professionally, I need to know what IT leaders are talking about. So when I meet with clients pitching enterprise AI and other technologies, I can drop pearls of wisdom about what I’m seeing and hearing in my travels.
Kudos to InformationWeek for keeping this reader – and so many others – reading.
