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…
The Ad Ops team is the nerve centre for many digital publishing businesses and they are well-positioned to know what changes a business needs to make and to drive these forward. Kerys Arundell gives us her six resolutions for the coming year.
William Reed this month published its guidelines and approach for how the company will use AI and machine learning tools.
The demise of local journalism, the under-reported case of Ujeza Kurmekaj, the over-hyped return of Cameron, Booths supermarkets, French visas, Farage & Dent, Sun’s Zelensky exclusive, press freedom, headline writing 101, Sam Altman and more...
Poool & Mather Economics / Sophi.io say their partnership aims to maximize audience conversion to subscription & membership.
Social publisher LADbible Group launches its sixth website, UNILADtech.com, to become the home of technology content for the social generation.
How does your publishing business measure up on the key metrics? How does what you are doing compare to the rest of the industry? Are you an outlier or part of the mainstream? Jim Bilton’s new mediafuturesPULSE aims to find out…
Elsevier Health has announced a partnership with OpenEvidence to deliver trusted evidence-based clinical content powered by responsible AI to support physicians’ clinical decisions.
James Evelegh attended the recent ESco Connect event to find out.
WAN-IFRA welcomes the initiative taken by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) to produce ethical guidelines and procedures around AI and Journalism but has elected not to endorse the “Paris Charter” because of specific concerns from news publishers.
Bloomberg has announced that clients may use Intra-Firm chatbots to drive digital transformation and collaboration workflows.
A News/Media Alliance study finds pervasive unauthorized use of publisher content to power generative AI technologies.
Editors believe that the anti-competitive practices of big tech pose an existential threat to journalism in the UK, a News Media Association survey of UK editors has found.
MPs, editors and members of the public believe that trusted journalism is essential to tackling the threat of AI-fuelled misinformation, which could threaten to undermine the next general election.
Ministers must not bow to pressure from the tech platforms and allow them to launch expensive and time-consuming appeals against the decisions of the Digital Markets Unit, editor of The Sun Victoria Newton has said.
Seedtag, a leading global contextual advertising company, has launched its advanced Contextual Audiences, powered by its proprietary Contextual AI technology, Liz.
