About
Peter Bittner is an AI Product Engineer in Content R&D at Advance Local, where he builds and operates the platforms and automations behind newsrooms in 9 markets.
Peter is the co-founder of The AI Upgrade, a comprehensive guide to generative AI for professionals that offered courses, consulting services, and content specifically designed to bridge the knowledge gap regarding AI and next-generation media tools for working professionals.
Peter previously led executive education programs at UC Berkeley’s Advanced Media Institute and lectured for 8 years in UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism’s New Media program, including on AI. He served as founder and academic director of the MindStudio Academy, where he specialized in multi-agentic AI orchestration and enterprise automation. Peter has extensive experience in translating complex AI capabilities into practical business applications across diverse industries.
Peter’s students and clients for AI upskilling include industry leaders from Apple, Salesforce, Walmart, AMD, Adobe, Amazon, Accenture, PayPal, NASA, US State Department, Harvard, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Paramount, National Geographic, BBC, Fortune Magazine, and dozens of other top organizations across private and public sectors. What they said about the training is on this site in full.
Among them
Peter specializes in executive-level AI education, focusing on practical implementation and actionable strategy rather than theory. His methodology emphasizes real-world business applications, immediate workflow improvements, and developing internal advocacy for organizational AI adoption.
Peter is a former award-winning multimedia journalist published on front page of The New York Times, with work featured in CNN, Bloomberg, Reuters, Al Jazeera, VICE News, Business Insider, and other outlets. The projects, fellowships, and roles from those years are kept in the archive.
Now
What he is working on this month is on the now page.
Selected honors
- Fulbright Creative Arts Fellow, U.S. State Department
- Fulbright Alumni Ambassador, U.S. State Department
- Human Rights Center Fellow, UC Berkeley School of Law
- Google Digital Media SXSW Fellow
- Best Student Multimedia Journalism Project (David Teeuwen Award), Online News Association
Education
- Master of Journalism (New Media), University of California, Berkeley
- BA, International Political Economy (Spanish minor), University of Puget Sound. Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa
Get in touch
peter@peterbittner.com, or see the contact page.