By Aude Dassonville
InvestigationThe surge of artificial intelligence, which scrapes journalistic content, is putting the media sector to the test as layoffs continue to mount.
For the media, the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) has proven to be an earthquake, profoundly shaking journalistic practices and relationships with readers, along with the economic models of newspapers, magazines, television channels and news websites, all of which have already been battered by years of crisis. On July 22, Google launched its "AI overview" feature in France, offering AI-generated news summaries at the top of its search engine results.
A user typing "trade war," for example, would learn that it refers to "an economic conflict where nations impose retaliatory tariffs, import quotas or trade barriers against one another to protect domestic industries or achieve geopolitical advantages," and that "global protectionist tensions have peaked in August 2026 due to the Trump administration's sweeping new tariffs."
Google embeds links for users to dig deeper into the media outlets from which the information is scraped, but will they click? A study by the Pew Research Center, an independent American research center, found that only 8% of users visit links provided by an AI-generated summary. People have already developed the habit of asking ChatGPT questions every day and getting answers drawn from various sources, including links that only a fraction of users visit. This has major consequences for news producers: How can organizations continue to exist if, on top of having their content scraped by AI, readers drop and advertising revenue is siphoned off?
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