04 Jun Let’s get this right!
Editors Note
It’s time for the news industry to stand together and stand united. This is more important than ever before because Generative Artificial Intelligence, of the kind that Chat- GPT has brought spectacularly to public consciousness, is the most transformative innovation that we all face, perhaps in our history. What looked to be the next step in digital transformation has quickly become about the transformation of digital itself. How we respond could define the future of our industry. Here’s our guide to maneuvering through the interesting times that lie ahead of us.
1 – It’s time for AI and for AI-first media companies. So let’s understand this new wave of technology and not fight it. The key to this is in studying the ways that AI can work for us rather than approaching it with a fear that it might replace jobs. Generative AI models can do many things but they rely solely on what has already happened and been documented. News publishers have the upper hand here, compared to virtually every other industry in dealing with AI, because only editors and human beings can tell original stories and go to the ground to report. AI literally cannot write the future of our industry, but it can help, in many ways, to make workflows more efficient and free up journalists to do their best work. AI will never find the news, but it can summarise, repurpose, add background and context, transcribe and do a plethora of useful things. An AI-first newsroom can be 70% automation and 30% original journalism, and that is not a thing to fear.
As we venture into this new space however, it is crucial to evolve rules and guidelines for how it might be put to use and how we can be transparent with our readers. Some questions already have answers. Human oversight, always. Full disclosure, always. Full responsibility, always.
2– Let’s get our business model around this right. We missed the search train and the mobile train, giving up our valuable content to Big Tech intermediaries in the hopes that it would lead to growth and prosperity. We cannot afford to miss this one in a similar fashion. AI now presents the media industry with its greatest ever paradox it is the single greatest threat to our business model but is also the single greatest opportunity.
The threats first: As AI-powered tools become increasingly advanced and capable of providing direct answers, the number of page impressions on news sites from search traffic will decline. The corresponding drop to advertising revenue would spell the end for a display ad-centric model that most media businesses still rely on heavily. It is
also a threat to subscriptions — why pay for a news subscription after all, if an Oracle or DeepMind can provide all the answers. And finally, AI is a larger existential threat because it has the potential to kill trust, flooding the world with disinformation and propaganda.
In the face of those challenges however, opportunities abound. If we play our cards right, AI can, and should, be able to generate vast amounts of Intellectual Property (IP) revenues for publishers. Tools like ChatGPT have been developed, in part, thanks to our collective efforts. Journalism constitutes a significant portion, around 30%, of the content that fuels generative AI. We cannot repeat the same mistake of giving away everything for free and as an industry, we must advocate for legislation that protects our IP and ensures that we are properly remunerated for our stories and our work. Beyond that, the sheer disruptive power of AI also has the possibility of decentralising the web and creating a space beyond established Big Tech dominance. It may even end the Google-Facebook duopoly, and in that remaking of the digital world we need to be ready to stake our claim.
3- Find the niche that makes you different: Perhaps the more tantalising prospect with AI is that it offers media businesses the chance to reorient themselves. As we prepare to experience an unprecedented explosion of online content, fuelled by new AI technologies the only way to cut through the clutter will be to build direct relationships with our audiences. The era of scale and distribution through social media is over. That much should be clear from the closure of BuzzFeed News, Vice filing for bankruptcy, and
ongoing layoffs at other outlets like Vox. By rediscovering their target audience, publishers can develop business models that yield high margins, cultivate loyal membership followings, or establish direct relationships with specific advertisers using first-party identifiers. Find this niche, and the right business model will find you. It is time to discover our true value as original storytellers of what is newsworthy, even as the machines take over. So what will it be? De-Generative AI or Re-Generative AI? We have a choice!
THE Innovation in News Media World Report is published every year by INNOVATION Media Consulting in association with WAN-IFRA, The report is co-edited by INNOVATION President, Juan Señor, and Senior Consultant Jayant Sriram