A couple of years ago, the AI question for most publishers was whether to experiment. That has been settled. AI is now at work in newsrooms, archives, ad sales and production, and the harder conversation is about what it is doing to the business around it.
Search is the pressure point. Answer engines summarise journalism without sending the reader on, and referral traffic is falling as a result. Publishers are split between signing licensing deals and blocking crawlers, with more of them now looking to negotiate collectively. Before any contract is signed, it is worth knowing which of your content is genuinely hard to replace and exactly what rights are being sold.
AI might be able to knock out something quickly, but speed isn’t the same as value and fluency isn’t the same as truth.
Toby Wiseman AI in practice: Hearst UK
Inside the business the picture is brighter. Regional groups use AI-assisted reporting for routine local stories, which frees other reporters to get out of the office. B2B publishers have turned deep archives into search tools that answer readers' questions, and at least one has sold subscriptions off the back of it.
Whether the human checks survive cost pressure is the open question. So far, the industry's bet is that original, specialist journalism and a direct relationship with readers will hold their value however the technology moves.
Below you'll find some of our best feature articles on AI in publishing, from licensing strategy and search to newsroom case studies and editorial policy, alongside our latest news and industry commentary.
Before rushing in to make deals with AI companies, publishers need to properly evaluate the value of their content, says Sajeeda Merali, CEO of the Professional Publishers Association.
The biggest puzzle for publishers today is where to find audiences and how to keep them. How to meet this challenge was the focus of the latest AOP CRUNCH event, writes AOP’s Richard Reeves.
emap’s Nursing Times was quick to explore the potential of AI when it launched its LLM search service last year. Sixteen months on, Robin Booth tells us what they’ve achieved so far and how they plan to use AI next.
Newsquest has published over 10,000 articles with the aid of AI. Jody Doherty-Cove, head of editorial AI, tells us how and why Newsquest is deploying AI across its newsrooms.
Toby Wiseman, MD, content, tells us how Hearst UK is using AI now and where he sees the best opportunities for future development.
Most publishers are trialling AI tools to some degree, but how many are actually seeing quantifiable benefits from their efforts? Meg Carter talks to Ana Jakimovska, head of AI strategy at Mediahuis, about their approach to AI adoption.
Steve Pinches, chief product and technology officer at Which?, looks at the tech opportunities and challenges facing his company and the wider consumer publishing sector.
Peter Barr-Watson, chief technology officer at The Independent, looks at the tech opportunities and challenges facing his company and the wider news media sector.
Reuters Institute’s ‘Journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2026’ report shows how publishers are reacting to the twin threats from AI answer engines and human creators, writes Nic Newman.
Having humans involved in the process has been what’s given publishers the license to explore all that artificial intelligence has to offer…
Anoop Ramachandran, CTO at specialist programmatic platform, Preciso, discusses AI’s influence on digital advertising, why humans still play an integral role, and why gaining (and maintaining) consumer trust has never been more important.
The Financial Times has launched The AI Shift, a weekly newsletter exploring how AI is transforming work.
The Observer has announced it has become the first UK partner for AI-powered news platform Particle News.
James Evelegh picks out some takeaways from the September / October 2025 issue of InPublishing magazine.
Welcome to our third AI special! This time, leading suppliers and publishers answer the all-important question, ‘how?’.
Publishers that embrace AI have the opportunity to deliver personal, helpful, and truly modern experiences. Markus Karlsson, CEO and founder of Affino, explains how it can be done.
Reach is using AI extensively across the business and sees considerable opportunities to grow usage further over the next 12 months, says Terry Hornsby, chief product and technology officer.
Publisher archives have huge commercial potential. Hutch Hicken, chief technology officer at BlueToad, explains how publishers can go about realising it.
AI can help improve the discoverability of content to gain competitive advantage. Brian Alford, founder and CEO of Bright Sites, explains how.
Which? is using AI as a tool to enhance efficiency, creativity and insight; to assist not to replace its expert and knowledgeable teams, says Jenni Allen, director of content.
AI is at its most powerful when it operates across the whole business, not in isolated silos. Rob Green, director of product and transformation at ESco, looks at what can be achieved.
AI can increase efficiency – but without distinctive strategies, publishers risk being overwhelmed by AI-driven competition, says Adriana Whiteley, director, FT Strategies. This is what publishers need to do.
AI is being used to strengthen editorial integrity, support commercial relationships and better serve audiences, says Damian McAlonan, AI & digital solutions director.
The biggest opportunity lies in reducing the burden of repetitive, time-consuming tasks that are important but not core to creating trusted original content, says Martin Ashplant, product development & operations director at PA Media.
The task for publishers is to turn AI advances in image creation and editing into repeatable workflows. Derek Milne, commercial pixometrist at Pixometry, explains how this can be done.
