Vibe-code jams
There's an awful lot of predictions in the annual Nieman Lab bumper feature on the future of journalism. This one from Google's Kawandeep Virdee stood out to me most:
[O]ver the next year we’ll see more custom tools and applications actually created by journalists, editors, and other non-technical staff in newsrooms.
I’ve shifted to throwing vibe-code jams — casual events where participants, regardless of technical expertise, rapidly build out 2-3 ideas within an hour. I see the most potential in niche areas of expertise, hyper-individualized tools just for you and your workflow.
I'm all for this, though one challenge might be how newsrooms encourage experimentation while keeping within the bounds of their own policies on data security. Vetting new AI tools at the rate of innovation is an impossibility but, at the very least, newsroom IT departments should be working overtime to make as many tools available as possible.