In 2025, the massive collapse of search traffic to many news sites shows that AI summaries within Google and other search engines are giving people enough about a story that they don't feel the need to click to find out more.

It might also reflect a trend towards people using AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini to get their news. This doesn't yet feel like a mainstream behaviour - very few people who I know are going straight to the chatbots to find out what's happening in the world. But it feels like that might become a widespread routine in 2026. 

I don't think nobody will go direct to the BBC or Guardian homepages, but I think it will become normal for people to go to something like ChatGPT and say: give me a summary of what's happening in the world and stick to sources that I like: BBC, CNN, Economist etc. There are already custom tools that do this, and the main AI players will build their own ways to create a custom morning briefing for you. 

This will be a really big shift for media companies, because it means that these AI tools will increasingly become the front door of the news industry.

They will own the demand, because people will go to them first. I'm confident that really high quality brands that have a great connection with their audiences will be able to retain direct relationships, but just like Facebook became the front door for news around ten years ago, I think next year is when the shift will happen to AI services. 

Share with a colleague

Written by
Joshi Herrmann

Comments