AI in the News: 3 Ways AI Will Actually Transform Journalism by 2025

The trends and predictions report from the Reuters Institute is out. My takeaways.

Jan 09, 2025

How will AI impact journalism in 2025? The trends and predictions report from the Reuters Institute is out and believe it or not, the impact will be fundamental. Here are my 3 takeaways.

TL;DR: Newsrooms are moving beyond AI as just a productivity tool to embrace it for new products. The data shows a major shift from backend automation to audience-facing features.

1. News gets conversational

I'll start with what I think is the most important chapter (the last one 😅): news is becoming conversational. Devices we can talk to (phones, headphones, smart speakers, eyewear) are everywhere, AI voice models are getting really good, and latency is plummeting (especially with on-device models). This is a huge potential shift in how we think about and produce information

2. Productivity < Products

The numbers tell an encouraging story about product development: while 96% of publishers say backend AI efficiency is important, the real transformation is happening in content creation (77%) and newsgathering (73%). We're moving from "AI as assistant" to "AI as product feature."

Breaking it down:

3. It's complicated

Here's why this matters: Facebook referrals have collapsed (67% decline in 2 years), X is down 50%, and Google search - the last reliable traffic source - could be next as AI summaries reduce clicks. OpenAI, Perplexity, Particle, Apple, and Amazon are all pushing their own AI news products.

And publishers are wary of their relationships with tech companies: about equal thirds want to strengthen, maintain, or reduce platform ties.

This is exactly why being AI builders (not just AI customers) is crucial - especially when publishers are split equally between strengthening, maintaining, or reducing tech platform ties.

4. Other striking numbers

Only 41% confident about journalism's future, down from 60% in 2022

87% of newsrooms being transformed by GenAI
Major challenges in attracting/retaining talent, especially tech talent

As always, excellent work by Reuters Institute. What I find fascinating is how clearly it shows both the opportunities and risks. AI is potentially disrupting business models while opening new possibilities - classic (and difficult) innovator's dilemma.

👉 Read the full report.

AI in the News