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  "path": "/2026/03/as-if-washington-post-could-not-get-any.html",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-17T23:39:00.001Z",
  "site": "https://40yrs.blogspot.com",
  "tags": [
    "start using AI and algorithms to price gouge subscribers",
    "new reporting from _Washingtonian_",
    "blog post"
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  "textContent": "Now the Jeff Bezos' disaster zone will start using AI and algorithms to price gouge subscribers.\n\nI'm thinking that destroying the _Post_  was always his long term goal.\n\n> Amid its pivot to AI, the _Washington Post_ is abandoning the traditional fix-priced subscription model.\n>\n> According to new reporting from _Washingtonian_, the once-venerable newspaper will now be setting readers’ subscription rates based on an AI-driven algorithm that interprets their personal data, mirroring controversial schemes used by services like Uber, Ticketmaster, and airlines.\n>\n> Readers were informed of the change in the fine-print of an email they received last week warning them that their fee was being set at a higher price. “This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data,” it stated.\n>\n> The _Post_ is being opaque about how the pricing algorithm works. When _Washingtonian_ asked the _Post_ for comment on the new pricing mechanism, it directed the paper to a blog post from its engineering team which explains its new AI-driven “smart metering model.” The model determines the number of articles that anonymous users, who aren’t registered on the _Post’s_ website, and registered users, who’ve signed up but don’t pay for a subscription, can read before being shown a paywall.\n>\n> It’s the latest sign of how the newspaper has undergone a tech- and AI-inflected pivot under the ownership of Jeff Bezos. Bezos’s Amazon, for instance, uses a dynamic pricing scheme that determines prices based on details like demand and location.\n\n The _Washington Post_  is complete sh%$.  Amazon is complete sh%$.\n\nTo quote Zathras, \"At least there is symmetry.\"\n\nJeff Bezos had better pray that there is no afterlife, because he will not fare well if there is.",
  "title": "As if the Washington Post Could not Get Any Worse",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-18T05:40:13.940Z"
}