{"id":68,"date":"2025-10-13T22:57:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T22:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/68\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T22:57:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T22:57:00","slug":"jimmy-breslins-son-outraged-over-ai-powered-writing-coach-that-supposedly-teaches-legendary-nyc-columnists-one-of-a-kind-style-piss-poor-taste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/68\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy Breslin’s son outraged over AI-powered ‘writing coach’ that supposedly teaches legendary NYC columnist’s one-of-a-kind style: ‘Piss-poor taste’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Son of Sam would never talk to an AI.<\/p>\n

A journalism nonprofit is hawking an AI-powered \u201cwriting coach\u201d to teach reporting in Jimmy Breslin\u2019s signature, take-no-prisoners style \u2014 drawing outrage from the legendary New York City columnist\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that was in piss-poor taste,\u201d Kevin Breslin, the filmmaker son of the late, great journalist, told The Post Monday about the Journalistic Learning Initiative\u2019s artificial intelligence tool, dubbed \u201cJimmy.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Legendary journalist Jimmy Breslin is the inspiration for an AI writing coach \u2014 and his family is furious. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father would say they\u2019re \u2018tunneling underneath\u2019 \u2013 and that\u2019s what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Eugene, Oregon-based nonprofit \u2014 which is linked to the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication \u2014 never reached out to Jimmy Breslin\u2019s family before it launched the $2.99-a-month bot, his son said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never heard of an idea coming out of Eugene other than sneakers,\u201d Kevin Breslin quipped, proving himself to be his father\u2019s son in a no-holds-barred interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe never said they could take my words and make it into some sophomoric, imbecilic writing, some second-rate nonsense. When it came to the written word, he was as precise as can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breslin\u2019s son Kevin Breslin couldn\u2019t believe the AI bot exist: \u201cI go, \u2018What the f\u2014 is this?\u201d James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n

Breslin famously corresponded with the \u201cSon of Sam\u201d killer through his New York Daily News column. Newsday RM via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Queens-born Jimmy Breslin, who died in 2017<\/a>, more than earned his reputation as champion of the common man over his colorful five-decade-long career \u2014 including a stint at The Post.<\/p>\n

He famously profiled<\/a> John F. Kennedy\u2019s gravedigger in 1963, tangled with the Mafia, publicly corresponded with the \u201cSon of Sam\u201d killer through his New York Daily News column and won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1986.<\/p>\n

Breslin, perhaps prophetically, made clear his mix of shoe-leather reporting and searing words could never be duplicated, giving himself the nickname \u201cJ. B. One and Only.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

But for all Breslin\u2019s brashness, his unmatched prose didn\u2019t come easily. <\/p>\n

He famously once told feminist activist Gloria Steinem, \u201cAnything that isn\u2019t writing is easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe sweated it out, man,\u201d said Kevin Breslin, recalling a childhood of watching his father agonize while writing his now-classic columns.<\/p>\n

Breslin won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986. Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Brooding over the written word is not an experience listed in the Journalistic Learning Initiative\u2019s pitch for its AI tools.<\/p>\n

The nonprofit pushes for blending reporting-based strategies into English and other high school courses, an approach known as \u201cjournalistic learning\u201d that aims to teach students research skills, critical thinking, collaboration and writing through \u201cproject-based storytelling,\u201d according to the group\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s offerings include AI tools based on famous journalists that promise \u201cpersonalized support without taking over the creative process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long-dead journalism luminaries such as Edward R. Murrow and Ida B. Wells form the basis of AI coaches respectively teaching journalist writing and opinion writing.<\/p>\n

The \u201cMurrow\u201d coach was unveiled in November 2023, with others seemingly following in the months to come.<\/p>\n

Breslin is the model for \u201cJimmy,\u201d the AI that offers feature writing help.<\/p>\n

Kevin Breslin argued the AI tool will fool students into thinking writing is easy. James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n

Jimmy Breslin died in 2017. AP<\/p>\n

Kevin Breslin said he only recently learned about the project through his brother James.<\/p>\n

\u201cI go, \u2018What the f\u2014 is this?\u201d he said about when he first clicked on the page.<\/p>\n

The filmmaker made clear he\u2019s not a technophobe, but said he was offended that anyone could try to distill his dad\u2019s very human ethos into an AI tool.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about the art of reporting? What my father called \u2018climbing stairs,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Slapping Jimmy Breslin\u2019s name on an AI writing tool ultimately fools students into thinking writing and reporting are easy, his son argued.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s noble \u2013 if they\u2019re teaching a f\u2014ing actuary class,\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re taking the thrill away from the imagination of some mind, fooling them that it\u2019s simple. It\u2019s all an illusion\u2026 They got some real set of balls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Representatives for the nonprofit didn\u2019t return a request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Son of Sam would never talk to an AI. A journalism nonprofit is hawking an AI-powered \u201cwriting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[66,67,68,69,70,57,9,56,63,65,64,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-68","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-artificial-intelligence","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-exclusive","11":"tag-jimmy-breslin","12":"tag-journalism","13":"tag-metro","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-nyc-headlines","18":"tag-nyc-news","19":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}