#901 How the New York Times is Harnessing Tech in the News Industry with Jason Sobel, CTO
How is the biggest newspaper in the United States using GenAI?
Today, we're talking to Jason Sobel, CTO at The New York Times. We discuss how technology is transforming journalism for the digital age, why 70% of journalism jobs have disappeared in the last 25 years, and how The New York Times uses AI to enhance reporting without replacing human journalists.
All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!
Thank you to Digital Ocean for sponsoring this episode. For simple cloud and powerful AI that’s built to scale, check out Digital Ocean here.
To get learn more about the New York Times, check out their website here.
About Jason Sobel
Jason Sobel joined The New York Times Company as chief technology officer in August 2021. In this role, Mr. Sobel oversees technology strategy and operations across product engineering, enterprise technology, and cybersecurity. He leads the teams that build and scale the systems powering The Times’s newsroom and business, evolve technical standards and safeguard information systems. He reports to Meredith Kopit Levien, chief executive officer of The Times Company.
Previously, Mr. Sobel was at Airbnb serving as head of infrastructure from April 2019 until March 2021. From April 2016 to April 2019, he was Airbnb’s engineering director and global head of trust and safety operations, leading the team that developed the technology Airbnb uses to combat fraud that keeps hosts and guests safe.
Mr. Sobel was vice president of engineering at Quantifind from September 2013 to November 2015. Prior to that, he spent six years at Facebook, where he worked on its backend platform to help steer the company through a massive growth phase.
Mr. Sobel earned an undergraduate and master’s degree in Computer Science from Brown University.
About The New York Times
The New York Times is powered by the idea that independent, deeply reported journalism fuels a healthy and engaged society. Our reporters, columnists, editors, engineers, designers, data analysts, developers and marketers breathe life into the most important topics of our time and tell stories that might otherwise go untold. Whether bringing new truths to light with our reporting, building innovative products that deliver a best-in-class digital experience, or analyzing data to understand how we can best serve our readers, our people power the world’s top destination for journalism.