AI Safety Week | Day 3: The Newsroom

Led by CAIJN, this interactive newsroom simulation explores a pressing question: How do we report on rapidly evolving AI capabilities and risks when the evidence is incomplete, the stakes are high, and the public needs answers?

Bringing together journalists, AI safety researchers, and policy practitioners, the session challenges participants to navigate a fictional but technically plausible breaking AI safety story.

Working in interdisciplinary teams, participants will investigate emerging developments, assess competing claims, interview sources, and make editorial decisions as new information comes to light. Under the pressure of a simulated news cycle, teams will be challenged to produce clear, accurate, and responsible reporting while preserving the nuance and uncertainty of complex technical research.

The session examines how evidence is interpreted, communicated, and translated into public understanding and policy discussions, highlighting the distinct responsibilities and pressures faced by journalists, researchers, and policymakers.

Prior to the simulation, we will have speakers from the journalism and AI safety research community present about their respective professions and what others need to know.

Journalist Speakers

Craig Silverman is an award-winning journalist and author and a leading expert on online disinformation and digital investigations. He is the cofounder of Indicator (https://indicator.media/), an independent publication dedicated to exposing digital deception and equipping professionals with the knowledge, skills, and tools to investigate it. Prior to Indicator, he was a national reporter for ProPublica covering voting, platforms, disinformation, and online manipulation. Craig previously served as the founding editor of BuzzFeed Canada and the media editor of BuzzFeed News, where he pioneered coverage of digital disinformation and media manipulation.

Jessica Patterson is a Toronto-based freelance journalist, editor, and educator specializing in journalism, innovation, multimedia storytelling, and AI in journalism. Over the past decade, she has covered the media industry for trade associations including FIPP, DCN, and WAN-IFRA, with bylines and projects spanning The Globe and Mail, Journalism.co.uk, and industry clients. She is the 2026 Michener Richard L. O’Hagan Fellow, developing AI literacy curriculum for 18 journalism schools across Canada. She teaches Multimedia Storytelling at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies and has trained journalists internationally. She is also the author of a forthcoming chapter on multimedia storytelling in Bloomsbury Academic’s News Happens Here: A Student’s Guide to Reporting on Campus and in Communities (2026). Jessica holds a Master of Journalism from Carleton University and is a graduate of the University of King’s College.

Please note: Wednesday’s workshops are by invitation only to accommodate limited capacity and ensure a balanced, productive exchange among participants. Attendance is subject to confirmation by the respective session organizers.