Most tech journalism I read today is more of a distillation of research on AI innovation than AI news coverage, framed through the eyes of industry thought leaders who have worked at frontier model makers or built companies that they sold to frontier model makers.
But there are still some straightforward news media formats and sources I enjoy visiting that fly at a lower altitude, closer to the action.
I’m a big fan of the lens, and not just because I wear glasses (transitions, thank you very much). For me, the lens is a great way to describe the framing through which I read what I like and what I find useful when it comes to the tech media landscape.
Lenses come in all shades and degrees of magnification. Some sources I like to read because of the way they distill content for IT leaders. Other sources because they provide a unique perspective on a significant range of topics. They present through a special lens.
What makes Axios different from other tech news sources
Which leads me to Axios, a worthy but less feted news website that stands out among the more venerable publications. Axios has an interesting way of framing tech and its themes du jour, and I’m not merely talking about the structure, though that presents another unique wrinkle.
No, I mean the topics, or more specifically, the dots the writers connect between topics. In one recent post, as reporter Sam Sabin noted how the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is at its weakest even as AI tools like Anthropic’s Mythos (and presumably others) are getting good at circumventing defenses, or as the headline notes, “as AI learned how to hack.”
Here we have a cogent framing of the challenges of cybersecurity in the AI era that you might read in some of the best tech news sources for IT decision-makers against the political choices that have been made in the nation’s capital. The TL;DR: “CISA has taken a backseat role in the administration’s response to the hacking threats posed by Mythos and similar models, according to two sources familiar with the matter.”
This is clear and presented without judgment, though the sources obviously help characterize the issues as an indictment. We, as readers possessing certain knowledge about the political landscape as well as the state of play in AI, bring our own judgment to our reading.
In another article viewed through the lens of the Catholic church AI stance, reporter Russell Contreras synthesizes Pope Leo’s views on the technology from his first encyclical, a 42,300- word epic. Presenting the info listicle style, the writer neatly summarizes the pope’s positions on the dangers AI poses to humanity.
How Axios structures its reporting differently
Circling back to the structure: It’s essentially information parceled out in bulleted increments.
Some may find this annoying. Candidly, I have in the past, as it represents a departure from the narrative structure of most publications I choose to peruse. And it takes some getting used to, but once you do, well, variety being the spice of life and all, I’ve come to appreciate it.
Regardless, I love this reporting from the article: “Dan Rober, a Catholic Studies professor at Sacred Heart University, tells Axios the encyclical’s biggest impact may be whether Leo’s language starts shaping AI regulation debates.”
It might. Politicians also like to lean on lenses through which to read and present information to bolster their case. Whether or not it will matter is another topic for another time.
Is AI inflating big tech earnings?
I’ve one more “lens” point to make. I appreciated a recent post about how recent earnings from Walmart, NVIDIA, Alphabet, Meta and Amazon may be inflated by AI.
Before you respond, “Gee, you think?” know that reporter Matt Phillips smartly underscores how “on paper” a lot of this looks. That if AI asset values plummet, the paper gains incinerate the prospective yield, followed by the sage point: “What gets written up can also be written down.” Well said.
It also may tamp down some of the frantic AI-generated froth roiling the markets these days.
Ultimately, Axios represents a nice departure, structuring smart points in brief snippets that help sharpen perspective, perhaps even help inform a new one.
In my view (or lens), that’s the hallmark of a solid news source.
