A Busy and Better Year in 2021
First, I wish you an excellent 2021. We all agree it could hardly be worse than the previous one.
For me, like many, 2020 was a terrible year. Loved ones who died alone without the ability to say goodbye, anxiety at every level, nearly zero revenue as many business projects got frozen. Now it is time to get out, develop projects, and meet people.
2021 will be a busy year professionally. For Deepnews.ai, it will be a make or break year. With our CEO David Finch, Girish Gupta as the CTO, and Christopher Brennan as the head of editorial, we completely revamped our core technology. Deepnews’ scoring algorithm is now based on a new “transformer” architecture that yields better results across a wider range of articles. The hardest part will be fundraising, on which our future depends.
With Deepnews.ai in capable hands, I will focus on my editorial work. I came to the realization that I really am French and based in Paris for good (albeit with strong ties to the United States). I will therefore increase my output in French. I have a tech column in the newsweekly L’Express, and I’m working on some investigative pieces. The first one is related to the battle against the pandemic and will be published by another magazine. In a few weeks, I will launch a compact new newsletter in French. I also want to explore new formats for delivering news analysis.
This academic semester, I will teach a new class titled Exploring the Information Space, from Mass Communication to Personalized News to 80 students at the main college of SciencesPo. Remaining in touch with the next generation is essential to me as I’m genuinely worried by the corroding notion of “informed citizens”…
All of the above means that I will allocate less time to the Monday Note. I intend to publish about one column per month while devoting more care to each of them. While I don’t have a shortage of subjects, I want to be more selective and, above all, try to come up with truly distinctive content out of respect, dear reader, for your time and loyalty.
See you soon.
Be well.
— Frederic
