By embracing innovation, protecting their content, prioritising ethical considerations, and building strong relationships with their audiences, publishers can harness the power of AI to create a sustainable future for journalism. The news industry is in a “liquid age,” where adaptability and a willingness to experiment are essential for durability and success.

Among the key questions discussed during this study tour to California, participants explored:

• The use of AI in the newsroom, marketing and IT Teams;
• Content ownership, intellectual property tracking, and agreements with data users. How AI companies handle content licensing, attribution, and revenue sharing;
• What are tech partners’ playbooks, and what does that mean for news publishers’ playbooks? How can news publishers best adapt to the tech ecosystem’s future plans? What content do they consider to be optimised for their platforms? How are they developing their interfaces to perform more complete news coverage? What insights on usage and user feedback do AI services provide to publishers;
• For newsrooms: strategies to mitigate bias, hallucinations, misinformation, workflow integrations, balancing efficiency with human oversight, measuring ROI. News organisations’ plans to adapt the shifts to AI: internal AI skills, dedicated team, training plans, etc.);
• Newsroom organisations’ playbooks for adapting to AI-driven search/answer engines;
• Internal use-case (AI for productivity & news production) vs. External use-cases (AI for your readers/users). Steps toward adaption of editorial AI tools.

KEY THEMES AND CHALLENGES

Revenue Generation and Business Models: The report highlights various revenue strategies, including premium subscriptions, hybrid models (combining premium content with programmatic advertising), non-profit approaches, and revenue sharing with AI platforms. The challenge lies in finding sustainable models that compensate creators fairly while providing value to consumers. The aggressive discounting practices that devalue local content need to be addressed.

Content Protection and Intellectual Property: A major concern is the unauthorised scraping of content by AI bots. Publishers need to implement robust measures to protect their intellectual property, including updating robots.txt files, using bot-blocking tools, and pursuing legal action against violators. Licensing content to AI companies is also a potential revenue stream, but fair terms and pricing models are still evolving.

AI-Driven Content Creation and Curation: AI tools can automate tasks like headline generation, content summarisation, and translation, improving efficiency and reach. However, maintaining journalistic integrity and accuracy is crucial. The “sandwich approach,” where humans initiate and finalise AI-assisted content, is recommended.

Audience Engagement and Personalisation: AI enables personalised content recommendations, audience segmentation, and targeted advertising. Publishers can leverage AI to create more engaging experiences and build stronger relationships with their audiences.

Ethical Considerations and Transparency: Bias in AI algorithms, the spread of misinformation, and the need for transparency are key ethical concerns. Publishers must establish clear guidelines for AI use and ensure human oversight to maintain credibility.

The Evolving Role of Search and SEO: Traditional SEO tactics are becoming less effective as AI-generated summaries replace click-through links. Publishers need to adapt their content strategies to optimise for AI-driven search discovery, focusing on quality, credibility, and recency.

The Rise of Private AI: Decentralised AI models controlled by publishers can help safeguard content and revenue. Building custom AI models allows publishers to maintain control of their data and reader relationships.

AI as a Culture, Not Just a Technology: The integration of AI requires a cultural shift within newsrooms, fostering experimentation, collaboration, and a willingness to reimagine journalistic processes.

ACTIONABLE STRATEGIES FOR PUBLISHERS

• Embrace a Hybrid Approach: Combine premium journalism with other revenue streams, such as programmatic advertising or non-profit models.
• Focus on Hyperlocal Utility: Create content that solves problems or simplifies life for readers, such as wildfire trackers, college admission guides, or curated recommendations.
• Build Direct Audience Relationships: Invest in newsletter strategies, community engagement, and exclusive content to reduce reliance on platforms like Google and Meta.
• Protect Your Content: Update robots.txt files, implement bot-blocking tools, and consider legal action against unauthorised scraping.
• Explore AI Licensing: Partner with AI companies to license your content for fair compensation.
• Experiment with AI Tools: Automate tasks, personalise content, and enhance audience engagement using AI, but maintain human oversight.
• Adapt to AI-Driven Search: Optimise content for AI-generated summaries and explore partnerships with emerging search platforms.
• Prioritise Ethical Considerations: Establish clear guidelines for AI use and ensure transparency to maintain trust.
• Cultivate a Culture of Experimentation: Encourage teams to explore AI applications and learn from successes and failures.
• Focus on Quality over Quantity: Produce fewer, higher-quality stories that offer unique storytelling, strong packaging, and forward-leaning perspectives.
• Prioritise building specialised AI agents for specific domains.
• Treat AI scraping as a cybersecurity threat rather than a licensing issue.
• Treat AI as a format

COMPANIES VISITED

AGI House, Bloomberg Beta, Hearst Newspapers, Kapwing, Mayfield Fund, Miso Technologies, OpenAI, Particle, Perplexity, ProRata.ai, Protege Media, ScalePost, Stanford University, The Information, The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco, Standard, TollBit, Verso, You.com

THE FULL REPORT IS AVAILABLE ON THE WAN-IFRA KNOWLEDGE HUB (For WAN-IFRA members only)