Earlier today, Axle AI announced it has acquired the extensive library, training properties and websites of Larry Jordan & Associates Inc., as an independent division of Axle AI, Inc.
The world of media is undergoing fundamental, seismic change. It began with COVID and is accelerating with AI. Not just Generative AIs like Sora and Runway which create short videos from text prompts, but a whole range of sophisticated machine learning systems that threaten jobs by vastly simplifying complex tasks.
“In a dozen interviews with editors and other Hollywood craftspeople,” the NY Times reported on July 30, “almost all worried that A.I. had either begun displacing them or could soon do so.” Again, from that Times article: “‘We realize that some [job categories] and some members may be impacted by [the use of AI] in a way not experienced before,’ said Cathy Repola, the executive director of the editors’ local.”
New developments in AI are announced daily. A recent DPP study described a possible result as “the hollowing of the media industry.” Some tasks which used to take a team can now be done easily by one person in hours or minutes. Meanwhile, the demand for additional media content is growing rapidly, led by online platforms that favor short-form content over traditional movies and shows.
In this disruptive environment, where the future is unknowable, but we still need to pay the rent, it is important to have guideposts you can trust to help make sense of it all.
Axle AI lives at the heart of post-production: keeping track of your media, regardless of format, or editing software, or operating system. Their software is independent of any storage vendor or corporate development strategy. Axle uses best-in-class AI metadata technology to help make all media organized and searchable, regardless of how you edit it.
Larry Jordan is known worldwide for his authoritative reviews, independent perspective and focus on the individual media creator. For more than twenty years, he has been the go-to source of news, reviews and tutorials on media that you can trust. That doesn’t change with this partnership.
It made sense for these two to combine their talents. Not as a single company, but an expanded family focused on media. Together they cover the full spectrum of the post-production industry. They have been there and done that. Their goal is to use their unique – and now combined – perspective to provide guidance as we all try to figure out what this “new normal” actually means.
These are tumultuous times. But, as always, we are here to watch, to listen and to help share what we learn with you. So that, together, we can make sense of this crazy world we find ourselves living in.
As always, we are interested in your opinions.
EXTRA CREDIT
27 Responses to Why Would A Training Company Join Forces With A Media Asset Management Company?
Hi Larry,
I have supported you for years, many years, buying some of your videos even through the various companies I have freelanced at. I find it disingenuous that you pulled out a survey asking us to give our honest feedback WITHOUT INDICATING that you were going to sell to an AI company. I have unsubscribed, but I am annoyed and surprised that you would do something like this. I have always admired your honesty and gentlemanly manner in which you do business.
Concerns about AI are real from freelance editors… I just wish you had given us an option to decide if we would give information to your “survey” if it was going to be used by an AI company. You had led us to believe it was for YOUR research. Not on.
Very disappointed at your lack of transparency.
Regards,
Susan.
Susan:
I’m very sorry you are upset. But I think you misunderstand.
We have been searching for a new corporate home for over two years. In almost every case, a potential buyer wanted to make my websites and newsletter their corporate voice. Something I had absolutely no interest in. Or, they just wanted me and not my training.
One of the reasons I stressed we are an independent division of Axle is that they have no editorial control. I remain very concerned about the impact of AI, a subject Sam and I enjoy debating. In those conversations, I learned that AI was far broader than I expected. I invited Sam on my webinar this week to get a different perspective on the current state of machine learning. This was not Sam’s request, but mine.
The reason for the survey was simple: for the first time in a long time, if this deal went through, I would have resources to grow – both in outreach and services provided. The reason for my survey was that I wanted to find out what was important to readers. The redesigned home page and news section is a direct result of this survey. More new features are coming soon.
By the way, no one at Axle has seen the individual results of the survey – except for the reports that I shared in my newsletter. I’m using the comments on where you find my newsletter valuable and what we need to improve for two things: adding relevant new features to my website and newsletter and marketing to increase our mailing list.
Axle did not suggest conducting the survey, design the survey questions, or access the individual results. That was all my idea.
Again, I’m sorry for your disappointment. But, to me, this new relationship feels good: Axle provides editorial independence, resources to grow and expand, and a reputable partner with people I’ve known for almost a decade.
Larry
Thanks for replying Larry, appreciate you getting back to me and outlining your reasons… as well as reassuring me that our responses/insights/thoughts that we gave on your survey remain with you.
I know you have worked really hard over the years to give us quality training and I wish you all the best in your new merger.
Regards,
Susan.
Susan:
Thanks. I deeply value my relationship with you and all my readers. It was important to me that this continue, but I no longer had the resources to do it on my own. I am optimistic for the future.
And never hesitate to point out when I make mistakes. That gives me the opportunity to correct them.
Larry
I think it is GREAT that some AI is going to be loaded with your
content. It will be also as good as asking you a question directly,
and waiting for you to get done with what ever you are doing,
as I am sure you have a full life and are not sitting on your computer waiting for me to ask a question.
High quality input to and AI Expert system. This is what the future needs.
Patrick:
Just to be clear, currently there are no plans to implement AI chatbots or other embellishments on my website. We have other ideas which are higher priority.
And whether the “future needs AI,” or “AI will be forced on us whether we want it or not” is still open to debate.
Larry
Larry,
I am sorry to hear you won’t be covering as much industry news in your weekly email. I won’t speak for others, but I am one of those who enjoy receiving emails from a variety of news aggregators relieving me of the burden of having to visit competing websites. I will be watching over the next few weeks to determine whether I still find value in your weekly newsletter.
Good luck with your new partnership,
Tom
Tom:
This is a very valid concern. But I was caught between a rock and a hard place. As trade shows approach, the swell of relevant product releases explodes. As I found at NAB, and will again at IBC, my newsletter could easily include 20-40 news items. This makes for a very unwieldy newsletter. By moving news items into my home page I can: post news items more frequently (ideally daily), provide more news items and allow you to scroll through by company name to read those that are relevant to you.
I’m still curating the list. I’m only including news items that I think are relevant. For example, anything specifically targeted at studios or enterprises, streaming and distribution, or general business tools don’t make my list.
Even so, that can be a lot. This is an attempt to give you easy access to relevant news, without bogging down a weekly newsletter.
As with everything I create, I’m interested in your opinions. Let’s see how to goes for a few weeks, then we can revisit it.
Larry
Larry,
Fair enough, I would add that I think you’ve done a great job these many years and that yours is the last newsletter I still subscribe to. (I guess that’s why I get nervous when I hear talk of change. Change is great when it’s necessary.)
Best,
Tom
Tom:
Smile…. change is always scary. My goal is to make things better.
Larry
I just saw the news feed on your website and thought:
“now there is a great place to put PR notices.”
Patrick:
While you are correct, my goal is to provide a single place for editors and digital media creators to check for news specific to our industry. Press releases, announcements, relevant articles in industry publications – all are what I hope to post to this page.
Larry
Larry, After seeing what happened to Dijital Juice after it’s creator passed away leaving many of us with a void I believe you made the right decision. I think this move will hopefully preserve your library for many years to come. Best of luck with this new venture.
Patrick:
Smile… while I am not planning on passing away anytime soon, that thought has been on my mind.
Thanks for the kind words.
Larry
And so sad that I had not downloaded all that I purchased.
Sucks – I’ve paid DJ a few thousand over the years.
Thanks for the great comments, everyone. I can only say that we’re really excited about this partnership, and look forward to connecting more with Larry’s subscribers and customers going forward, to see how we can jointly improve the newsletter and site further (hopefully the news section is a good step forward – check it out at http://www.larryjordan.com).
Also, I should also mention that we aren’t “that kind” of AI company – our AI products are aimed at helping editors find their own best content more effectively, but we never share or train on customers’ content or AI models – and the vast majority of our customers use our software in private deployments, with no external data connection at all.
I think it’s safe to say that given the recent pace of developments in AI, we are all being turned into Luddites (at least in part), and it’s very healthy to be deeply skeptical of what the real benefits of this technology, and its costs, are going to be. But both Larry and I believe a clear-eyed examination of the ongoing situation is massively preferable to curling up in a ball.
Sam Bogoch
Founder/CEO Axle AI
PS. The Luddites actually get a bad rap – check out Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite
Larry,
In response to Tom Knoff’s comment about not wanting to have to visit your website for new, I’d like to offer a solution.
Why not create an “old school” RSS feed for your industry news? That way, people can subscribe to the feed and have the news delivered to their favorite RSS reader (without having to manually visit your website).
Cheers.
Dave:
We’ve had an RSS feed for, gosh, more than 15 years. Every article I write hits that immediately.
However, the news table on our home page is not a separate article, so it doesn’t appear on the RSS feed. As well, newsletter content is created on a separate website and doesn’t appear on the RSS feed either.
Sadly, Tom’s stuck visiting our home page periodically.
Larry
Both the home page new items (in the “table”) could be added to the existing or a new RSS feed. You could also do the same with some or all of your newsletter (it might be better to link your newsletter issues as individual items in an RSS feed).
The bigger question I see, after visiting your home page just now, is that you are simply “dumping” press releases into the news “table”/widget.
I would hope that you are somehow curating what goes into the table, rather than just putting things there willy nilly. The last thing we need is more marketing “noise” and other non-news from people and companies trying to sell us stuff.
Anyway, it would be easy enough to add your new news content to the existing or new RSS feed…
Cheers.
Dave:
Good to know that the news table could be added to an RSS feed. I’ll mention this to my web team because doing so is beyond my skills.
And, yes, every item there has been reviewed and written by me. I consider this to be a “notification” service. If the content is relevant to what I perceive my audience to be, I add it. I don’t rewrite the press release – I leave that unfiltered.
But, if you saw the number of press releases and news updates that cross my desk each day, you would realize this is a highly selective list.
Larry
In my previous post paragraph formatting didn’t seem to take. And, I misstated a few things.
I meant to suggest that a few of the “news” items I looked at seem to be of varying quality (not all good). I would hope that you will have taken some time to vet the items in the news table, in order to keep the quality high and avoid as much “noise” as possible.
Thanks.
Cheers.
Dave:
I choose the listing, I don’t edit the quality of the news / item / event they are promoting. Also, this list will not cover “deals, special offers, or holiday pricing.” That is far too easy to find elsewhere.
Larry
Enjoyed learning with Larry Jordan for over 33 years. Larry’s books, videos & tutorials are the most informative, easy to understand & learn video editing & production sites, of all the educational video sites on the internet. Looking forward to continued learning with Larry. Gloria Messer
Gloria:
It has been a pleasure knowing and working with you over all that time, as well.
Larry
Thank you for all you have done for our industry over the years. You have helped me stay up to date with an ever changing video industry for many years. Your dedication and hard work helped me to be able to run a successful business, increase my creativity, and keep the bills paid. I’m glad that you have not stagnated and are wilingl to take a risk and keep moving forward. Even though now retired, I will keep looking forward to the valueable information that you provide. I wish you the best with this new adventure. I’m sure, as always, you will be very successful moving forward.
Karl:
Thanks for your kind words. I’m very optimistic.
Larry
Hello Larry,
Congratulations. I always believed change is the only permanent thing in the life, I’m happy for you, you have earned it. Thanks for all the tutorials that have help us. Good luck 👍.