Medium’s New App Aims to Keep the Platform Relevant

What to know about Medium’s TK writing app

• TK’s purpose: Medium’s free app gives people with Medium accounts a place to write and organize notes before publishing.
• AI assistance: The editor’s built-in assistant can answer questions, find saved notes, and offer feedback on drafts.
• Private collaboration: TK Libraries let writers share work in progress with small groups and receive comments or contributions.
• Writing trade-off: TK brings AI into the drafting process while Medium says its goal is to support human writing.

A personal essay, a tutorial, or an argument that has been taking shape in someone’s head for weeks can all find a home on Medium. Now, the platform wants to support the work that happens before those pieces are ready to publish: sorting through notes and sharing an early draft with a friend. This article explains how TK, Medium’s writing and note-taking app, works and how writers can use its AI assistant and private groups.

On Nov. 9, Medium launched TK, a free writing and note-taking app for people with a Medium account. TK has an AI assistant built into the editor that can answer questions or give feedback as writers draft. It also lets writers share work in small groups where others can leave comments, swap notes, or contribute writing of their own. TK is a free app for drafting, note-taking, and collaboration.

According to Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine, TK aims to help writers develop ideas and create influence through writing. He said, “craft writing that compounds into deep thinking, which creates influence across your entire world. What shape is that influence? We’re still figuring that out, but we know it starts with humans writing more.”

Stubblebine said TK was designed around three goals: making it easy to write, easy to think, and easy to feel that writing matters. The app’s stated goals center on writing, thinking, and the value of writers’ work.

The launch comes as the internet and online publishing have changed. Medium relies on Google to send readers to its articles, accounting for 44 percent of its traffic, and Stubblebine said those referrals declined “When Google started taking away all the traffic.” He warned the company in an interview with The Verge that “this hurts us, but it also hurts you.” Though Medium has been profitable since 2024, it must keep iterating to compete with other publishing platforms such as Substack and with social media. Google referrals and competition shape Medium’s publishing strategy.

Stubblebine’s response is to give writers a way to reach readers without relying on Google. With TK, writers can share drafts directly with people in private groups. “We’re just going to take everything underground,” he told The Verge. Private draft sharing gives writers a way to collaborate outside public publishing.

In a separate analysis of March 2025 browsing data, the Pew Research Center found that users clicked a traditional search result on 8 percent of Google visits with an AI summary, compared with 15 percent of visits without one. In that analysis, traditional search-result clicks were less frequent on visits with an AI summary.

For people unfamiliar with the letters, “TK” is a placeholder writers and editors use to mark something that still needs to be added, such as a date that needs checking or a quote to insert. In the Medium app, typing @TK brings up an assistant that can answer a quick question or find a paragraph the writer saved the day before. Medium says the assistant can also give headline and editorial feedback, compare drafts with Medium publications’ style guides, and pull related notes into summaries that link back to the originals. Writers can import their Medium archives or bring over notes from Bear and Obsidian. An optional Claude integration lets an outside agent work with the notebook, too. TK combines note retrieval, draft feedback, and imported writing materials in one editor.

The human version of that feedback happens in TK Libraries. A Library can be a space for a few friends to share work in progress, and Medium is also opening groups for journaling, feedback on drafts, and working toward a self-published book. A draft can stay private, go to a handful of readers, or eventually make its way to Medium’s publishing platform. Stubblebine described the distinction this way: “TK is the gym and Medium is the stage.” TK Libraries support private collaboration before a draft is published on Medium.

TK’s use of AI raises a question: the company wants people to do more of their own writing while putting AI a few keystrokes away from every unfinished sentence. Looking up a date is different from asking AI for feedback on a paragraph, which can come closer to outsourcing writing abilities. Medium says TK lets writers disclose which material came from AI and show the prompts and source material behind it. The company says it is not anti-AI, but pro-human. TK includes AI support while offering writers a way to disclose AI-generated contributions.

“Much of the AI industry is betting that machines will do our thinking for us, and some of its leaders talk as if writing no longer matters. We’re betting the other way. We’re not anti-AI, we’re pro-human—and that’s why we built TK”

Other publishing platforms are also finding uses for AI. Substack can turn a podcast recording into an editable transcript or suggest short clips from a video for creators to share on Notes or Instagram. As Mashable reported in July, Substack also gives readers a “Scan for AI text” option. The tool, powered by Pangram, estimates how much of a published post was written by a human, generated by AI, or written with AI assistance. Substack’s described AI features support creator workflows and AI-text detection.

The app enters a literary world that has been inundated with AI. In a 2026 survey Medium conducted with The Harris Poll, 71 percent of writers said they had used AI in their writing process in the previous three months, yet 69 percent said they distrusted AI-assisted writing from others. TK brings AI closer to the drafting process. An assistant a few keystrokes away could make it easier to produce more AI-written material, or the app could support writers sharing rough drafts and developing ideas together. The survey shows a contrast between writers’ use of AI and their trust in AI-assisted work. Opinion: As someone who reads a lot of AI-generated material, I hope TK encourages writers to share rough drafts and work through ideas together.

How does TK help writers organize and develop drafts?

TK combines an editor, note-taking features, an AI assistant, and private sharing through Libraries. Writers can use it to develop drafts and decide whether to keep them private, share them with a small group, or publish them on Medium. TK supports writing from early notes through possible publication.

• Drafting: Write and revise in the app’s editor.
• Finding material: Type @TK to ask a question or retrieve a saved paragraph.
• Getting feedback: Ask the assistant for editorial or headline feedback, or share a draft with a Library.
• Moving work: Import Medium archives or notes from Bear and Obsidian.
• Choosing an audience: Keep a draft private, share it with a few readers, or publish it on Medium.

This sequence keeps the writer in control of how a draft develops and who can read it. The available path runs from personal notes to group feedback and, if the writer chooses, public publishing. Draft privacy and audience choice are separate from the decision to publish.

What is the difference between TK and Medium?

TK is the space for drafting, thinking, and collaboration, while Medium remains the publishing platform. A writer can develop work in TK and later decide whether to publish it. TK is for developing writing, and Medium is for presenting published work.

Stubblebine’s description of TK as “the gym” and Medium as “the stage” captures that division. The distinction also explains why TK Libraries can host work in progress without making every draft public. Private collaboration does not require immediate publication.

How does TK’s AI assistant work, and what are its limits?

The TK AI assistant can answer questions, retrieve saved paragraphs, provide headline and editorial feedback, compare drafts with Medium publications’ style guides, and summarize related notes with links to their originals. Medium also says writers can disclose AI contributions and show the prompts and source material behind them. TK’s assistant supports research and editing tasks, while writers retain control of their drafts.

Using AI to look up a date differs from using it to critique or shape a paragraph. The latter can raise questions about how much of the writing process a person delegates, so disclosures can help make AI’s role visible. AI assistance and human authorship are related but distinct parts of the drafting process.

What do writers say about AI-assisted writing?

In Medium’s 2026 survey with The Harris Poll, 71 percent of writers said they had used AI in their writing process in the previous three months, while 69 percent said they distrusted AI-assisted writing from others. The survey records both AI use and distrust among writers.

The figures describe two different responses: using AI in one’s own process and trusting work produced with AI assistance. They do not establish why writers hold both views. AI use and trust are separate measures in the survey.

What is TK used for?

TK is used for writing, taking notes, getting AI assistance, and sharing drafts with small groups. Writers can keep work private or choose to move it toward publication on Medium. TK supports drafting and collaboration before publication.

Can writers share TK drafts privately?

Yes. TK Libraries let writers share work in progress with a small group, and writers can also keep a draft private. TK offers private and group-sharing options for drafts.

Can TK import notes from other apps?

Writers can import their Medium archives and bring notes over from Bear and Obsidian. TK supports imports from Medium, Bear, and Obsidian.

Does TK require writers to use AI?

The source describes the AI assistant as a built-in feature, but does not say that writers must use it. Medium says writers can disclose AI contributions and provide the associated prompts and source material. AI assistance is available in TK, and the source does not state that its use is required.