Jodi’s Journal: Business anniversary meets AI arrival

March 15, 2026

Get this: SiouxFalls.Business has existed as a digital product about three times longer than ChatGPT.

Talk about both an eye-opener and a dose of humility for me as I mark nine years in business.

ChatGPT, which launched in 2022, has exceeded 1 billion users.

SiouxFalls.Business? Well, I have no complaint about our reach. But it’s a bit more limited — as affirmed by ChatGPT when I asked it to describe the reputation of SiouxFalls.Business as a business news organization.

It said:

• SiouxFalls.Business is a locally owned digital business news organization focused specifically on the Sioux Falls economic and business community.

• It was founded in 2017 by journalist Jodi Schwan, a longtime local media professional.

• Its mission is to “inform, connect and engage the Sioux Falls business community.”

Because of this focus, it’s often regarded as:

• a primary source for local business news (new companies, development, leadership moves, retail openings, etc.)

• a community-oriented publication rather than a broad investigative newsroom.

Within Sioux Falls, business leaders, developers and economic organizations frequently read and cite it.

It went on to detail our context mix and business model accurately, to note that we don’t often publish investigative reporting and to conclude that:

“SiouxFalls.Business is generally respected locally as a credible business-focused publication, particularly among the Sioux Falls business and economic development community. However, it operates more like a specialized business news outlet/community publication than a traditional investigative newspaper.”

Works for me!

Nine years ago, I thought I’d anticipated the trajectory of digital news when I decided to create a digital-only, free product with a revenue model based on sponsored content partnerships. In many respects, I did. The structure of the business model, combined with the support of this business community, has allowed us to attract and grow both readership and revenue, and for that I am exceedingly grateful.

But I’m not sure anyone, at least locally, saw the advent of generative AI back when we first hit “publish” in early 2017.

In recent months, the acceleration is unmistakable. For news organizations, this will begin to force some of the same work flow changes that the switch from print and analog media to digital did. The work product probably will be clunky and maybe even ugly for a while. The ramifications to reporting, writing and editing are massive. The potential is there to create work that audiences will value even more if we figure out how to use the tools to that degree of effectiveness.

That’s my industry’s issue to solve. But more broadly, the influence of AI is appearing in new ways in my professional interactions nearly every week.

I occasionally will email questions to an interview source, especially if schedules are hard to coordinate. I have had multiple people use generative AI to craft responses intended to be attributed to them.

I once had someone mistakenly leave attribution to AI at the top of an email he’d sent me, ostensibly written by him.

I’ve been sent strategic marketing direction created by AI, content ideation generated by AI and story framework outlined by AI.

Sometimes, those on the other end tell me AI was involved. Sometimes, they don’t. So far, I’m pretty sure I can tell. And that’s not to say there’s anything wrong with it, per se. We’re all trying to figure out use cases, to uncover the promise of productivity, maybe even to conceal our own skill gaps or insecurities. There’s a lot about the output that doesn’t measure up for me yet, but it’s not hard to envision the refinement that’s within reach.

One of the best approaches I’ve heard was from my marketing contact at one of our advertising partners, who prefaced background information she sent me with, “Some of it is AI-generated, but most are thoughts we have and what we talk to clients about.”

When I mentioned to her how common this is becoming, she said: “I tell my team if they ever use it, they have to treat it like an intern. We’d never put anything out that hasn’t been edited and vetted. I now make people tell me if they use AI.”

That pretty much captures how I feel at this stage of the technology’s development.

But my bigger concern is around leaning on AI too heavily to literally think for us. It’s one thing for me to use it to proof a piece for grammar, spelling and punctuation. That saves time and improves quality. It’s another to ask it to generate my idea, craft interview questions and then write the story. That also saves time, but over time, what would it do to my own ability to enterprise, analyze, synthesize and craft a compelling story?

If you use AI to take over your higher-level thinking skills, what happens when you’re called on in person to respond spontaneously to an issue requiring you to think critically without the crutch? If these mental muscles aren’t used regularly, my fear is they can atrophy just like physical ones.

That said, I still think the benefits can outweigh the risks. I have seen examples of impressive work, and I can tell the output already is improving. The evolution of this technology is going to define not just the next decade of my business but also I suspect many industries worldwide.

For now, if someone sends me AI-generated work product, I tend to set it aside, do my human thinking in response, then look at AI’s contribution last. Sometimes, there’s a helpful element that does strengthen the work, especially if I drill down more to hone the output.

To that point, what image does one use for a column to mark SiouxFalls.Business celebrating nine years in business? I guess there are many options, but I was a bit crunched for time and didn’t care to invest much in figuring it out.

With one prompt, ChatGPT delivered the image you see with this story. Could it have been better? Sure. Does it work in this case? I think so. Now I guess I should run the column through for proofing.

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