How AI is changing the news, and what businesses need to know

How AI is changing the news, and what businesses need to know

Artificial intelligence has moved beyond being just a productivity tool — it’s changing the way people find and consume news.

This shift is already reshaping how organizations approach public relations, investor relations and corporate communications, Notified reports.

According to Mary Meeker’s 2025 State of the Internet report, ChatGPT is already handling an estimated 365 billion searches annually — a growth rate more than five times faster than Google in its early years. At the same time, Google’s AI Overviews are taking center stage in search results, often giving users summarized answers before they ever visit a website.

The impact is clear — traditional pathways for discovering news are breaking down, and AI-generated summaries are quickly becoming the first point of contact between companies and their audiences.

The Urgency Behind the Shift

The speed of AI adoption has caught many industries off guard and has begun to overwhelm professionals. According to a recent LinkedIn survey, over half of respondents said AI training feels like a second job.

At the same time, newsrooms continue to shrink, people are turning to AI tools instead of traditional search, and generative platforms are pulling together information from press releases, filings, and media stories into single, summarized narratives.

For businesses, this creates a new reality: investors, customers, journalists and employees often see AI-generated answers before they reach the original source. If that content isn’t clear, consistent, and reliable, a company’s story that circulates could be incomplete — or worse, misleading.

How AI Is Changing the Way News Is Found

This transformation has significant implications for visibility, credibility and influence with three major trends already redefining how news reaches the public:

• AI-driven search is replacing traditional clicks — Instead of scanning dozens of headlines, scrolling through feeds, or visiting multiple outlets, more audiences are turning to AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini and Google’s AI Overviews to get direct, synthesized answers. This “one-stop” model is efficient for readers, but it also means fewer direct visits to websites and less visibility for bylines. As a result, brands and media outlets need to think not only about crafting compelling stories but also about how those stories are structured for AI discovery.
• Original sources are carrying more weight — Press releases, SEC filings, earnings summaries and other primary documents increasingly serve as the backbone of AI-generated answers. For example: Because AI systems pull heavily from authoritative, structured sources, organizations that prioritize accurate, well-formatted and timely releases stand to gain more exposure. This dynamic underscores the growing importance of getting the official record right — the closer your content is to the primary source, the more likely it is to be amplified through AI-driven channels.
• Narratives are merging — In the AI-driven ecosystem, content silos are disappearing. Investor updates, press coverage and thought leadership blogs are no longer consumed in isolation; they are aggregated by machines and presented as one cohesive narrative. For communicators, this blurring of boundaries means that every piece of content, whether intended for shareholders, reporters, or the public, has the potential to shape broad perception. Managing message consistency across formats is no longer optional; it’s essential to ensure an organization’s story is represented accurately when AI delivers it back to the world.

3 AI Tips Business Leaders Need to Know 

Whether it’s shaping brand perception, managing investor confidence, or ensuring accurate media coverage, the way content should be published today will directly affect how it appears in tomorrow’s AI-driven summaries.

To stay ahead, here are three essential practices to prioritize:

1. Make Content Clear and Reliable

AI tools work best with structured information. Press releases, earnings updates and official statements should be easy to read, consistent and free from gaps that could be misinterpreted. If the details aren’t clear, the story AI presents may not be accurate.

2. Keep PR and IR on the Same Page

The line between media coverage and investor communication has all but disappeared. A single inconsistency across channels can create confusion once AI systems pull everything together. Business leaders should ensure their communications teams are working together to deliver one unified narrative.

3. Write for People — and Machines

Today’s audience isn’t just human. Algorithms are scanning content, too, and shaping how information is shared. That means businesses need to publish content that answers questions directly and holds up as a trusted source when AI tools summarize it (think FAQs).

The Strategic Advantage of Adapting Early

While the AI landscape will continue to change, the companies that respond early will have the edge. By making content structured, consistent and ready for both people and algorithms, they’ll reduce the risk of being misunderstood and strengthen trust with investors, customers and the media.

This isn’t just about keeping up with technology. It’s about protecting reputation, ensuring accuracy and making sure your story is the one that gets told.

This story was produced by Notified and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.