It's All PR From Here On Out

A new tech "magazine" promises a conflict-free approach to prestige press.

X.com/joincolossus

Early on in the whole generative AI bubble, acquaintances and other people I was making small talk with would often ask me if I was worried that a language model would take my job. I’d always reply no, usually with a cocky little anecdote about how I am a magazine writer who goes out into the world to tell stories, something that no computer will be able to do anytime soon. Even if you stick a chatbot on wheels and put a webcam on top, it’s not going to be able to write a compelling magazine story, or even a blog like this one. I think I’m good.

But there is an outside force that I do worry about losing my job to: other writers who don’t believe my job should exist. These people have always existed. Yellow journalism is not a new concept, and whole swathes of the modern media landscape effectively function as marketing and public relations departments for one industry or political cause or another. You can pay a TikTok influencer to say basically whatever you want to millions of people. As I’ve written before, the industry looks pretty cooked.

But there are still plenty of places doing good work. There are plenty of magazines and newspapers and websites and blogs that are producing writing that fulfills the core public service of journalism. But the Colossus Review, a new magazine catering to the startup and tech community, is not one of them.