AI is becoming a threat to journalism because “users won’t click”

That may be the most important sentence in the current debate between AI companies and news publishers.

Court documents reported by Tom’s Hardware included internal warnings from OpenAI and Microsoft. OpenAI’s head of ChatGPT reportedly described the product as an “existential threat” to publishers because AI answers will become more substitutive as they improve. An OpenAI engineer reportedly said that even if links are shown clearly, users will not click.

Other evidence points in the same direction:

• An analysis by Observatório da Imprensa cited research finding that 75% of sessions did not leave Google AI Mode to visit the wider web.
• A French publisher association representing around 300 newspapers said AI Overviews were reducing clicks, web traffic and advertising income.
• Reuters Editor-in-Chief Alessandra Galloni said 10% of news consumers already use AI chatbots for news. Among people under 35, the figure is 16%. These figures do not include AI summaries inside search and other products.

This is not a small product change.

The old internet model was:

Question → links → publisher website → reader relationship

The new model is becoming:

Question → AI answer → session ends

The publisher still pays for the reporting, verification, editing, legal review and corrections. But the reader may never meet the publisher.

I believe AI should help people find original reporting, not remove the need to read it.

That is the approach we are taking with Mera News. Mera uses AI to find reporting that may matter to a person. It explains why the story is relevant, then sends the reader to the original publisher.

The publisher remains the source and destination.

AI can improve discovery without replacing journalism. But we have to design for that outcome from the beginning.

How should publishers and AI companies measure whether a citation creates real value for the source?

“Our journalism should be licensed, not taken.” Alessandra Galloni, Reuters Editor-in-Chief

Sources

• Tom’s Hardware: internal AI-industry warnings about publishers and clicks
• Observatório da Imprensa: fragmentation of the open web
• Channel i: French publishers report fewer clicks from AI summaries
• ABC News: Alessandra Galloni on AI and journalism