• Home
  • About
    • diacritical
    • Douglas McLennan
    • Contact
  • Other AJBlogs
  • ArtsJournal

diacritical

Douglas McLennan's blog

You are here: Home / 2026 / April / Archives for 7th

Archives for April 7, 2026

From Messages to Conversations: AI Agents are Changing how we Find Culture

April 7, 2026 by Douglas McLennan Leave a Comment

In the last six months, we've seen a surge in traffic at ArtsJournal. That's great, right? But when I looked at server logs, we found that 70 percent of that surge was machines —bots— not people. We aren't alone. According to recent reports, automated traffic hit 51 percent of global web activity in December 2025, the first time in a decade that machines outnumbered people online. AI and large … [Read more...]

Douglas McLennan

I'm the founder and editor of ArtsJournal, which I launched in 1999. ArtsJournal has never been a news source — it's a curated conversation: 26 years of gathering the most significant writing about … [Read More...]

About diacritical

Our culture is undergoing profound changes. Our expectations for what culture can (or should) do for us are changing. Relationships between those who make and distribute culture and those who consume it are changing. And our definitions of what artists are, how they work, and how we access them and their work are changing. So... [Read more]

Subscribe to Diacritical by Email

Receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 209 other subscribers
Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on E-mailFollow Us on Substack

Archives

Recent Comments

  • Avoca Code on Not Really a Manifesto, I guess, but Perhaps a Framework for Thinking about AI and Art…: “Thought-provoking and well said. I appreciate how you frame AI not just as a new tool, but as a structural…” Nov 23, 17:42
  • Douglas McLennan on Making the Creative Turn: Is Using AI Cheating?: “Is it too hyperbolic though? A study just out this week reports that AI medical diagnosis capabilities now far surpass…” Jul 2, 13:34
  • Alan Harrison on Making the Creative Turn: Is Using AI Cheating?: “There is no pushback that would make sense. “Cheating” is, of course, a relative term — it means different things…” Jun 29, 18:48
  • Tom Corddry on Making the Creative Turn: Is Using AI Cheating?: “The emergence of new tools doesn’t make previous tools illegal to use for artistic creation, though new tools may radically…” Jun 29, 15:30
  • David E. Myers on How Should we Measure Art?: “A sophisticated approach to “measuring” incorporates all of the above, with clear delineation of how each plays a part if…” Nov 3, 16:20
  • Tom Corddry on How Should we Measure Art?: “Reading this brought to mind John Cage’s delineation of different ways to experience a Beethoven symphony–live in concert, on a…” Nov 3, 01:58
  • Abdul Rehman on A Framework for Thinking about Disruption of the Arts by AI: “This article brilliantly explores how AI is set to revolutionize everything, much like the digital revolution did. AI tools can…” Jun 8, 03:49
  • Richard Voorhaar on Classical Music has Lost a Generation. Blame the Metadata (in part): “I think we’ve lost several generations. My parents generation was the last that really supported, and knre something about classical…” May 15, 12:08
  • Franklin on How Subsidy for Big Tech Wrecked the Arts (and Journalism): “Language, yes; really characterization. Investments and margins don’t become subsidies and taxes whether or not markets “are working” – I’m…” Mar 8, 07:13
  • Douglas McLennan on How Subsidy for Big Tech Wrecked the Arts (and Journalism): “So what you’re arguing is language? – that investments aren’t subsidies and margins aren’t taxes? Sure, when markets are working.…” Mar 7, 21:42

Top Posts

  • AJ Chronicles: The Excellence Problem and Why it Matters
  • From Messages to Conversations: AI Agents are Changing how we Find Culture
  • The Great Renegotiation: Five Ideas about where Culture is going in 2026
  • If Dance Can't Pay Its Dancers What Does It Mean To Be A Professional Dancer?
  • Paramount and Live Nation/Ticketmaster Won Big Last Week: Here's why Orchestras and Theatres (and Consumers) Lost

Recent Posts

  • From Messages to Conversations: AI Agents are Changing how we Find Culture April 7, 2026
  • AJ Chronicles: The Excellence Problem and Why it Matters April 4, 2026
  • AJ Chronicles: Why Tech Infrastructure is Becoming the Most Important Arts Story of 2026 March 28, 2026
  • AJ Chronicles: What Habermas Feared for our Public Sphere March 22, 2026
  • What Ireland’s Basic Artist Income Experiment tells us about a new Arts Economy March 19, 2026
April 2026
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930  
« Mar    

An ArtsJournal Blog

Recent Posts

  • From Messages to Conversations: AI Agents are Changing how we Find Culture
  • AJ Chronicles: The Excellence Problem and Why it Matters
  • AJ Chronicles: Why Tech Infrastructure is Becoming the Most Important Arts Story of 2026
  • AJ Chronicles: What Habermas Feared for our Public Sphere
  • What Ireland’s Basic Artist Income Experiment tells us about a new Arts Economy

Copyright © 2026 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in