Why 2026 could be the year AI gets 'delightfully boring'
After working with 150+ newsrooms, one thing is clear for Fergus Bell: the hard part isn't adopting the technology, it's working out how to survive
– 3 min read
Fergus Bell has spent the past 18 months working with more than 150 newsrooms globally, helping them implement AI. As CEO of Fathm, a UK-based consultancy, he’s seen the full spectrum, from organisations taking their first steps to those already building custom integrations.
His message at the Emerging Tech Network’s first session of 2026: the spectrum is narrowing, newsrooms finally understand what AI can and cannot do, and the real challenges have less to do with tools and more to do with fundamental business model questions.
From experimentation to innovation
18 months ago, the range was vast. Some newsrooms had never logged into ChatGPT. Others were integrating APIs into their CMS. Today, something has shifted.
“I would say, a year ago, we weren't seeing innovation,” Bell notes. “We were seeing experimentation. I think now people understand that this is a part of life and a part of business operations.”
That understanding matters. Early on, Fathm had to explain what a prompt could achieve. Newsrooms couldn’t gauge whether tasks would take minutes or hours. “There’s been a calibration of understanding about how easy or hard something is or how much resource it takes,” Bell adds. Real innovation is finally emerging - not because technology improved, but because newsrooms understand what they’re working with.
The efficiency trap
Selling efficiency to newsrooms isn’t straightforward. Bell recounts one organisation that mapped their entire process, calculated AI costs versus manual labour, and decided: “It worked out that the person doing it manually was cheaper. And so they didn’t make that change.”
His advice to tech companies? Understand the pain points. Don’t arrive with a solution looking for a problem.
“It’s not about coming into an organisation saying, we can do something that’s really cool,” he explains. Most organisations have discussed how they will use AI responsibly and where it’s relevant. “Finding that out from your contacts is the first part of any conversation. It’s not solving a problem they haven’t identified.”
