AI in Print and Digital Media

AI agents aren’t just changing the game—they’re rewriting the rulebook for publishers. With OpenAI's launch of the "Operator" AI agent, the publishing world is buzzing with questions: Will this technology create a traffic vacuum as users bypass traditional search engines? Or will it push publishers to prioritise hyper-personalisation, delivering richer, more customised audience experiences? As The Drum highlights, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman describes Operator as a “paradigm shift” in how people interact with information. By offering direct, conversational answers, AI agents could significantly reduce reliance on traditional search platforms, posing a challenge for publishers still heavily dependent on organic traffic. Here's another crucial insight: Google is also introducing AI agents through Project Mariner, which takes personalisation a step further by allowing AI to browse the web on your behalf to provide custom, contextually relevant answers (NewsBytes). This means that AI agents aren’t just presenting static, pre-selected information—they’re actively browsing and curating answers based on real-time user interactions. Publishers must evolve their strategies to keep pace with this kind of dynamic content delivery. But here’s the thing—this doesn’t mark the end for publishers. It’s a pivotal moment to recalibrate, innovate, and build stronger, more direct relationships with audiences. Instead of seeing AI as a threat, why not view it as an opportunity to rethink how we engage with readers? Here’s what publishers need to focus on: - Reinvent audience development strategies: Relying on a single channel is no longer sustainable. Instead, build direct connections with your audience through owned platforms like newsletters, apps, and exclusive memberships. These aren’t just optional—they’re critical. Also, understand at what stage of the reader funnel the platform/channel is most valuable to you and your audiences. - Embrace personalisation: AI tools can work for you, not against you. Leverage them to create tailored content, gain real-time audience insights, and deliver adaptive user experiences that keep readers engaged. - Leverage partnerships and innovation: Collaborating with pubtech and providers and investing in emerging tools will help you confidently navigate this shifting paradigm. What’s your strategy to thrive in the next stage of AI agents? Share your thoughts in the comments—I’d love to hear from you. #DigitalPublishing #AIForPublishing #AudienceEngagement

📰 Two fascinating examples of how leading newsrooms are pushing AI beyond basic chatbots into sophisticated journalism tools: The Financial Times has built an AI system that uncovers hidden political connections by analyzing complex, unstructured datasets. By applying machine learning to the UK Register of Parliament Members' Interests, they revealed previously hidden patterns that led to exclusive stories about funding shifts and potential conflicts of interest. This is AI journalism at its finest - using AI to find stories that might otherwise remain buried in complex data, at scale and for every journalist in the newsroom. Fascinating to read Liz Lohn and Katie Koschland's vision on this. Meanwhile, at DER SPIEGEL, they're revolutionizing how readers discover news with an innovative LLM approach. Their system doesn't just recommend articles - it explains why in natural language, achieving an impressive 56% precision rate. Imagine getting a recommendation with an explanation of why it could interest you. That's AI making content discovery both more accurate AND more transparent. Brilliant work by Alex Held! What excites me most is how these innovations enhance rather than replace human journalism: powerful investigative tools for reporters, and better content discovery for readers. Go check out their posts—two completely different projects, yet both truly inspiring! If you’ve come across other innovative AI applications in journalism recently, I’d love to hear about them! #Journalism #MediaTech #DataJournalism #FutureOfNews

Media is constantly in a state of having to reinvent itself, driven by technologies that democratize and revolutionize how people collect information. And in 2025, the abundance of information available to people, and the abundance of people publishing information, is completely unprecedented. It would make Martin Luther's head explode to know that a little over 500 years after the Reformation and the printing press revolutionized the concept of information, and the value of it, that we'd be here -- the potential era of artificial intelligence. A generation ago, the internet stole print advertising budgets, spawning a new generation of digital-first publishers that benefited from social media and search traffic. Now, artificial intelligence–based tools like Google AI Overview, Perplexity, and OpenAI's ChatGPT are siphoning off what remains of publisher traffic, providing much of the information users need within their own ecosystems. Since Google introduced AI Overviews in May 2024, the percentage of zero-click news-related queries has increased from 56 percent to nearly 70 percent, according to a new Similarweb report. To take one example, Business Insider, which recently announced it was laying off 21 percent of its staff, has seen its organic search traffic collapse by 55 percent. Of course, the digital advertising market is also being disrupted. Google, which still accounts for 86 percent of search activity in the U.S., has begun testing ads alongside its A.I. results as a way to monetize these shiny new tools. If the past is prologue, the impacts will be significant. According to eMarketer research, U.S. ad budgets allocated to A.I. search will increase from less than 1 percent this year to about 14 percent in 2029, or more than $25 billion. For comparison, Pew estimates that newspaper advertising revenue fell from nearly $50 billion in 2005 to less than $10 billion in 2022. It’s hardly an exaggeration, as my lunch companion may have recognized deep down, that we’re in for a media brand extinction event. So...what do you do if you're a digital publisher – a company that leaned into the promise of Google Search and Facebook traffic, focusing on trading free for scale, audience size for ad dollars? There are new search engines, like ChatGPT, but a recent study found that although traffic referrals from ChatGPT increased 25x year-over-year between May 2024 and May 2025, they’re most likely going to publications that have partnerships with OpenAI, like Reuters and the New York Post. It's hard not to see how this means all the leverage will sit with Sam Altman — and that's not exactly good news for publisher incentives. As counterintuitive as it might seem, the answer is to go smaller, not larger. I dive into why — and how — in my latest for Puck. https://lnkd.in/ew6sytUK

From Print-First to AI-First Without Losing the Soul. For decades, newsrooms were structured in silos, print over here, digital over there, social media somewhere in the corner. But the AI shift is forcing integration. Some Indian publishers are showing how it’s done: AI pre-writes predictable content — election results, cricket scorecards, budget outlines. A “multi-version desk” produces platform-ready content for print, web, and social at the same time. 100% AI-led experimental brands explore risky formats without affecting the main brand. It’s not about replacing editorial judgment — it’s about removing inefficiencies. The future newsroom will be fluid, with content created for multiple platforms from the very first draft. What’s exciting is that AI isn’t just helping speed things up — it’s allowing entirely new formats of storytelling to emerge. Interactive graphics, AI-assisted local language coverage, and on-demand explainers are just the start. Biggest takeaway: The future newsroom won’t be “print” or “digital” — it’ll be fluid, where stories are platform-ready from the start. *Part of a series based on sessions from a recent Google News Initiative conference, distilling key ideas, case studies, and takeaways for those who couldn’t attend.  Follow Kumar Manish for the next post in the series #AI #Newsroom #MediaTransformation #Storytelling #DigitalFirst #GoogleNewsInitiative #JournalismInnovation

Over the past two years, the frequency of my content publishing across LinkedIn, Medium, and multiple newsletters has increased dramatically. Not by outsourcing my ideas, but by strategically leveraging artificial intelligence as a creative partner for the most time-consuming and excruciating steps in the process: proofreading, editing, refining, and publishing. Here’s the thing: I’ve been writing and publishing long-form content since 2015, well before the era of AI. The challenge was never generating ideas or having something to say. I have files filled with hundreds of article concepts, long-form voice-to-text notes about ideas, and bullet-point outlines added daily to my Google Drive. The real bottleneck was always the post-rough draft grind: editing, reshaping, and reworking content into a polished final form. That meant revising drafts multiple times, restructuring sections, trimming wordy paragraphs, improving transitions, and optimizing readability... again and again. Anyone who knows me knows I’m never at a loss for words and can easily talk through an idea/concept, but lecturing out loud and turning it into something publishable are two very different skills. That’s exactly where AI comes in. It tackles the tedious, repetitive, and time-intensive work: – Editing drafts for clarity, conciseness, and sentence rhythm – Checking grammar, punctuation, and phrasing consistency – Rewriting awkward transitions to improve readability – Suggesting metadata such as SEO titles and meta descriptions – Crafting social media captions that align with my voice, tone, and content of a piece. Key insights from this article: 1) AI complements expertise (but never replaces it): Great content still depends on real knowledge, lived experience, a unique perspective, and deep understanding. 2) AI modernizes an age-old process: Authors like Robert Greene and Malcolm Gladwell have long relied on research assistants and editorial teams. AI is simply the next evolution of that practice. 3) AI improves consistency: With the right prompts and training, AI helps maintain high editorial standards while keeping my voice intact across hundreds of articles. 4) The topics I write about (digital marketing, entrepreneurship, and philosophy) aren’t abstract ideas to me. They’re areas I’ve spent thousands of hours studying, applying in real-world scenarios, teaching in classrooms, mentoring students, advising businesses, and discussing in national publications. 5) Content starts with preparation: I’ve documented hundreds of content ideas—captured mid-hike, over coffee, or during daily work sessions—so I always have something meaningful to work on. If you're curious how AI can fit into a content process without sacrificing your voice or values, read the full article. #ContentCreation #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #DigitalMarketing #Entrepreneurship #Productivity #WritingTips #Writing #ProfessionalDevelopment

Very proud to share this important new report from #JournalismAI! "AI and the Newsroom Next Door: Experiments and Best Practices for Small Publishers" showcases how 35 news organizations worldwide are using AI to enhance their journalism, strengthen their operations, and expand their public mission. As advisor for the 2024 #JournalismAI Innovation Challenge, I had the privilege of following the journey of this truly impressive cohort of small and medium-sized publishers exploring AI's potential in journalism. Huge thanks to Charlie Beckett for inviting me to serve as advisor, to Tshepo Tshabalala (Project Manager and Team Leader), Lakshmi Sivadas (Senior Programme Manager), and the entire JournalismAI team who made this program possible. The report features: 🌐 35 AI innovation stories from across the globe 📝 Practical lessons for newsrooms starting their AI journey 🗺️ Insights on experimental collaboration driving change 💡 Guidance on AI implementation in journalism These publishers have shown remarkable creativity in experimenting with AI while staying true to their journalistic mission. Their experiences offer invaluable insights for our industry. 🔗 Read the full report: https://lnkd.in/epEiF44S #AI #MediaInnovation #Journalism #DigitalTransformation #FutureOfNews