In the mid-1400s, Gutenberg’s printing press upended the way ideas traveled. It democratized information and diminished the gatekeeping power of elites. Today, AI is doing the same, only faster, deeper, and with far more ambiguity for the institutions that collate the information. As AI-generated summaries replace search links, and bots outnumber readers, publishers are being written out of the equation.
Perplexity, a $14 billion AI startup, reportedly scrapes sites even when blocked and has republished paywalled content without consent. Google’s AI Overviews and its newer AI Mode strip away even the need to click, turning traditional search into a closed-loop assistant. The result? Sites like Business Insider and The Washington Post have seen traffic drop by more than 50% over three years. Business Insider recently laid off 21% of its staff and declared it was going “all in on AI.”
News outlets that once built their businesses around SEO are seeing their models collapse, and AI companies, some argue, are eating their lunch. Faced with this existential threat, publishers are confronting a hard truth: adapt or disappear.
