Odd Lots · Monday, August 10, 2026
Meredith Kopit Levien stressed that while The New York Times is exploring AI tools for efficiency, high-quality, independent journalism must remain human-led. She highlighted the newsroom's AI Initiatives team is building tools to aid reporting, such as sifting through large document troves or identifying patterns, but emphasized that creative work remains best done by humans for humans. Levien also stated the company is not offended by the idea of AI assisting reporters, as long as it's used responsibly.
“What's the work that should be human led? And I want to say, high quality, independent journalism, human led, human led creative stuff. We make this a creative company. We make stuff that is best by humans for humans.”
“I think the act of a reporter. And by the way, the foundation of journalism is reporting. What is reporting It is going out into the world and following a professional process to in a fair way unearthed new information.”