315: Tony Stubblebine, CEO of Medium, On Human Curation, Subscription-Driven Quality, and Fixing the Internet

AI and the Future of Work: Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace, Business, Ethics, HR, and IT for AI Enthusiasts, Leaders and Academics

Tony Stubblebine is the CEO of Medium, the widely popular publishing platform that recently surpassed 1 million subscribers. A serial entrepreneur, Tony is also the founder of habit coaching companies Coach.me and Lyft Worldwide and is the publisher of Better Humans on Medium. He is a passionate advocate for writers and a frequent speaker on the intersection of human creativity and technology, emphasizing why bots won’t replace human ingenuity. Tony holds a BA in Computer Science from Grinnell College, where he proudly supports the Pioneers.
In this conversation, we discuss:

• How Medium's recommendation system was overhauled under Tony's leadership to prioritize human curation over algorithmic popularity, creating a platform that values thoughtful content.
• The transformative decision to adopt a subscription-based model, allowing Medium to focus on delivering content readers are happy to pay for, rather than relying on ad-driven engagement.
• The balance between human curation and algorithms in delivering a "sane, thoughtful, and informed" reading experience that supports both freedom and quality.
• Medium's mission to deepen readers' understanding by emphasizing human wisdom over pure knowledge, highlighting the importance of life experience in creating impactful content.
• Why Medium minimizes the presence of AI-generated content, focusing instead on curating thoughtful and valuable human contributions for its readers.
• Tony's perspective on fixing the "broken Internet" by proving that business models focused on delivering value, rather than grabbing attention, can be successful and sustainable.

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