The rapid evolution and advancement of generative AI has many media companies worried: The Wall Street Journal reported late last year that search accounts for roughly 40% of publishers' traffic, much of which is likely to be cannibalized by AI-powered news summarization and other tools over the next few years, meaning advertising and e-commerce revenues will decline.
But ironically, while AI could deal a major blow to the search businesses that a few major media companies have built, it could also restore those companies' political and cultural power.
Over the past decade, fringe and alternative media companies have been able to hijack the debate by going viral. Emerging news websites, blogs, and Facebook pages have learned to use social media platforms to steal audiences from traditional media that have been slow to adapt. This business model has pushed the news business and political debate in that direction, favoring speed and sensationalism over discretion.
Meanwhile, AI companies are trying to make bots that are less prone to talking back nonsense. They're far from perfect: Google rolled out a new AI Overview product this week, which suggested some users put glue on their pizza or eat stones. But dietary advice aside, big companies continue to work on ironing out kinks: As consumers turn to AI to make sense of complex, messy news, they're working to ensure the machines spit out accurate information.
The inputs that train OpenAI's ChatGPT and other AI systems are closely guarded secrets, making it difficult to know how the company will handle websites that lean heavily one way or the other politically. An OpenAI spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on why the company chose to partner with some news outlets while ignoring others.
But OpenAI's public actions suggest which news publishers it considers to be on its side.
In addition to the media outlets it has already signed on with, OpenAI has been in talks with CNN's business and digital teams for months, but talks have stalled over disagreements over the value of CNN's stories. The Washington Post told The Wall Street Journal this week that the company is “exploring significant AI partnerships,” and Time CEO Jess Sibley told Semaphore on a conference call that the company remains in “active, ongoing, positive discussions” with OpenAI and is optimistic about how OpenAI will use the information.
“We've weathered many major shifts in consumer behavior and we're excited about this one,” she said. “The time has come at an opportune time, because it's not just about covering today and the future, it's about our archives for 100 years.”
Even publishers now hostile to AI companies (notably The New York Times, which sued OpenAI) are exploring future business arrangements with them, hoping for better terms. Before the lawsuit, the Times was negotiating a licensing deal with the tech company. Condé Nast, which publishes Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Vogue, sees generative AI as a “clear violation of copyright law,” CEO Roger Lynch said in an emailed statement.
Lynch also called for Congress to enact a new AI regulatory framework. “While some technology companies have shown a willingness to enter into partnerships and licensing agreements, others have not. Until we're all on the same page about the law, the threats to media and publishing are real and significant,” she said.
Aside from Elon Musk's acquisition of X, many of the major developments in social media platforms in recent years have strengthened legacy media outlets like the New York Times at the expense of digitally native competitors, especially right-wing competitors. Conservative media organizations were some of the hardest hit by Facebook's decision to pull back on news, which dramatically reduced access to right-wing news sites.
At least some conservatives seem to understand that AI could also tip the information power in favor of the establishment. Months after most mainstream news organizations stopped their AI crawlers from scraping training data from their sites, many prominent right-wing news sites continued to allow it. The Daily Caller and Washington Examiner both blocked AI crawlers, but the Daily Wire continued to allow them, citing reasons such as “to ensure that the AI does not harbor the same biases as establishment news organizations.”
Several left-leaning digital news organizations, including The Intercept, Raw Story, and Alternet, have sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, claiming that the AI is training on their work without proper credit or attribution. The existence of the lawsuits indicates that OpenAI doesn't consider these sites to be on the same level as the major news players and doesn't see the need to compensate them.
