The Future of Media in the Age of AI: Misinformation, Attention, and Personalization (From Davos)
AI's impact on media personalization, misinformation, and journalism's future from Davos panel
Guests
Francesca Gargaglia
Co-founder and CEO, social.plus
Francesca Gargaglia is co-founder and chief executive officer of social.plus, a company building infrastructure and tools for social interaction. She brings an operator’s perspective to questions about online communities, creator-led distribution, personalization, and the effects of artificial intelligence on media economics and audience trust.
Johnny Gabriele
Co-founder and CEO, Daedalus Partners
Johnny Gabriele is co-founder and CEO of Daedalus Partners. In the panel discussion, he contributed an entrepreneur’s perspective on media economics, trust, and the effects of AI on how audiences discover information. His work sits at the intersection of business strategy, communications, and the changing media landscape.
Lexi Mills
Moderator and CEO, Shift6 Studios
Lexi Mills is CEO of Shift6 Studios and moderated the Davos panel represented in the episode. Her role in the discussion was to guide an examination of media trust, attention, personalization, and misinformation as artificial intelligence changes how information is produced and consumed.
Mark Kollar
Partner, Prosek Partners
Mark Kollar is a partner at Prosek Partners, a communications and public-relations firm. In the Davos panel, he discussed how AI is changing media trust, distribution, and business models. His perspective focuses on reputation, audience attention, and the communications challenges created by synthetic and highly personalized information.
Watch on YouTube ▶About this conversation
What happens when AI makes the news feel like it was made just for us, and the “ objective ” version quietly disappears?
Here we have something of a “ very special episode ” of AI-Curious. I was recently in Davos during World Economic Forum week , and was honored to speak on a panel on the Future of Media . This is that panel.
We dig into the trust crisis in journalism, the attention economy, and how AI may accelerate the shift toward personality-led media and hyper-personalized information feeds . We also explore why misinformation is not new, but why AI makes it easier , faster , and more scalable , and what that means for democracy, markets, and everyday decision-making.
Across the conversation, we unpack a core tension: AI can help deliver more context , more v iewpoints, and more interactive storytelling , yet it can also deepen filter bubbles by giving each person a “ perfectly tailored ” version of reality.
We discuss incentives and business models, including subscriptions, creator-led journalism, community-based distribution, and ideas like micropayments, as well as the role of media literacy and education in helping audiences navigate what’s real.
Panelists
Lexi Mills (Moderator), CEO of Shift6 Studios
Jeff Wilser, Host of AI-Curious
Francesca Gargaglia, Co-Founder & CEO of social.plus
Mark Kollar, Partner at Prosek Partners
Johnny Gabriele, Co-Founder & CEO at Daedalus Partners
Key topics we cover
• 03:07 — Trust, attention, and the rise of personality-led media reshaping news consumption
• 05:22 — Why AI accelerates a pre-existing media business crisis, and how trust erodes as convenience rises
• 12:48 — Algorithms before generative AI: engagement incentives, anger, and the personalization trap
• 17:29 — The “personalized Walter Cronkite” future and the risks of hyper-customized news
• 26:58 — Micropayments, creator platforms, and whether new economics can reward truth
• 27:23 — Media literacy: teaching people how to evaluate sources and resist “feed-based reality”
• 38:18 — Global perspectives: access, affordability, radio’s role, and how personalization may spread worldwide