News/Publishing
House Republicans probe Wikipedia bias affecting AI training data
House Republicans are demanding details from Wikipedia about contributors they accuse of injecting bias into articles, particularly regarding Israel and pro-Kremlin content that later gets scraped by AI chatbots. The investigation by Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and Cybersecurity Chairwoman Nancy Mace highlights growing concerns about how Wikipedia's content influences AI training data and public opinion formation. What you should know: The lawmakers are targeting what they call "organized efforts" to manipulate Wikipedia articles on sensitive political topics. Comer and Mace sent a letter to Wikimedia Foundation CEO Maryana Iskander seeking "documents and communications regarding individuals (or specific accounts) serving...
read Aug 28, 2025WhatsApp launches AI writing assistant with privacy-focused processing
WhatsApp has launched Writing Help, an AI-powered tool that can adjust the tone of messages or completely rewrite them to sound more professional, funny, or supportive. The feature leverages Meta's AI technology while using Private Processing to ensure message privacy, marking another step in Meta's integration of AI assistance across its messaging platforms. How it works: Users can access Writing Help through a new pencil icon on their keyboard in both individual and group chats. The tool can modify message tone or provide alternative ways to convey the same message, similar to Instagram's existing writing assistant. Writing Help is powered...
read Aug 27, 2025Google adds more links to AI search results amid publisher traffic concerns
Google is expanding the number of links displayed in its AI Mode search results, with plans to embed more website links directly within AI-generated responses. The move comes as publishers report significant traffic drops from AI summaries, while Google maintains that overall search traffic remains unchanged despite growing concerns about users bypassing traditional web browsing. What you should know: Google's AI Mode will feature enhanced link placement designed to encourage more user clicks to source websites.• Robby Stein, VP of product for Google Search, announced via X that the company is experimenting with methods to display more links in AI...
read Aug 25, 2025Perplexity launches $5 monthly Comet Plus sharing 80% revenue with publishers
Perplexity has launched Comet Plus, a new $5 monthly subscription that shares revenue with publishers when AI agents use their content to answer questions. The initiative addresses growing concerns about AI companies using publisher content without fair compensation, offering an 80% revenue split to participating publications. What you should know: Comet Plus represents a new approach to compensating publishers for AI-driven content usage beyond traditional web traffic. Publishers will receive 80% of the $5 monthly subscription fee, with the remaining 20% allocated to computing costs. The subscription gives users access to premium content from a group of trusted publishers and...
read Aug 22, 2025Youbooks slashes AI book writing platform from $540 to $49 lifetime deal
Youbooks, an AI-powered book writing platform, is offering lifetime subscriptions for $49, down from the regular price of $540. The tool leverages multiple AI models including ChatGPT, Llama, Gemini, and Claude to help users generate complete nonfiction books in weeks rather than months, targeting content creators, publishers, consultants, and educators seeking to rapidly produce professional written materials. How it works: Users provide writing style examples and prompts, while Youbooks generates comprehensive manuscripts using real-time research and multiple AI models. The platform can store up to 100 source documents and 100 style examples, allowing users to work on multiple projects simultaneously...
read Aug 21, 2025Cloud company claims AI bots now account for 80% of website traffic, threatening server stability
Fastly's new report reveals that AI crawlers and fetchers are overwhelming websites with traffic that accounts for a staggering 80 percent of all AI bot activity, with some bots hitting sites with over 39,000 requests per minute. The surge is primarily driven by Meta (52% of crawler traffic) and OpenAI (98% of fetcher traffic), creating unsustainable server loads that threaten website performance and the business models of content creators. What you should know: AI bots are fundamentally reshaping internet traffic patterns, with crawlers scraping training data and fetchers delivering real-time responses creating new operational challenges. Fastly, a cloud services company,...
read Aug 21, 2025Wired, Business Insider publish AI-generated articles under fake bylines
Renowned tech publications Wired and Business Insider were caught publishing AI-generated articles under the fake byline "Margaux Blanchard," exposing how sophisticated AI content is infiltrating mainstream journalism. The incident highlights a growing crisis where AI-generated "slop" is eroding trust in online media, with human editors at reputable outlets falling victim to increasingly convincing automated content. What happened: Multiple publications discovered they had been duped by AI-generated articles submitted under a fictitious journalist's name. Wired published "They Fell in Love Playing Minecraft. Then the Game Became Their Wedding Venue," which referenced a non-existent 34-year-old ordained officiant in Chicago. Business Insider ran...
read Aug 18, 2025Notion Mail brings AI-powered email management to iPhone
Notion has launched its AI-powered email client, Notion Mail, on iPhone, expanding the platform beyond its initial Mac release from April. The app joins Notion's growing suite of mobile productivity tools and leverages artificial intelligence to automatically organize and personalize email management for users. What you should know: Notion Mail positions itself as "the inbox that thinks like you," using AI to automatically sort and label incoming messages based on user preferences. Users can train the system to recognize which types of emails matter most, though initial setup still requires the Mac version of the app. The app allows users...
read Aug 18, 2025WhatsApp tests AI writing assistant with 5 tone options for messages
WhatsApp has started testing "Writing Help," an AI-powered feature that suggests message improvements based on user-selected tones, currently available to iOS beta testers through TestFlight. The tool represents Meta's latest push to integrate AI assistance across its messaging platforms, offering users five different tone options to refine their messages before sending them. How it works: Writing Help activates when users enable Private Processing in app settings and begin typing a short phrase in the chat input field. The sticker icon in the chat bar transforms into a pen symbol, indicating AI assistance is available for writing suggestions. Users can tap...
read Aug 18, 2025New data reveals Google AI summaries cut publisher traffic 10%
Google's AI Summaries have caused significant traffic declines for major publishers, with median year-over-year referral traffic from Google Search dropping 10% in just eight weeks, according to new data from Digital Content Next (DCN). The nonprofit, which represents household names like The New York Times, Bloomberg, and NBC News, warns that AI-generated summaries could lead to "fewer sources, weaker journalism, and a less informed public" as publishers struggle with reduced click-through rates. The big picture: Google's AI Overviews, which began their nationwide rollout in May 2024, are fundamentally changing how users interact with search results—and not in publishers' favor. The...
read Aug 13, 2025WordPress gets native AI website builder through 10Web plugin
WordPress now includes native generative AI website creation capabilities through a new plugin from 10Web, a website builder platform, eliminating the need for third-party builders or separate AI tools. The white-labeled solution allows hosting providers to offer customers AI-powered website creation directly within their WordPress environment, potentially transforming how web hosting companies deliver value to their customers. What you should know: The 10Web plugin integrates directly into WordPress hosting stacks, enabling users to create fully functional websites through a simple chat interface. Users describe their business needs, and the AI generates complete websites including mobile-friendly design, proper structure, and WooCommerce...
read Aug 12, 2025Creators are trying to roofie AI bots to prevent crawling and unauthorized training
Web-browsing bots now account for the majority of internet traffic for the first time, with AI company crawlers like ChatGPT-User and ClaudeBot representing 6% and 13% of all web traffic respectively. Content creators are fighting back with "AI poisoning" tools that corrupt training data, but these same techniques could be weaponized to spread misinformation at scale. The big picture: The battle between AI companies scraping data and content creators protecting their work has escalated beyond legal disputes into a technological arms race that could reshape how information flows across the internet. Key details: Major AI companies argue data scraping falls...
read Aug 11, 2025UK freelance journalism income falls 66%, concentrates in London while AI poses new threats
Freelance journalists in the UK are earning 66% less than they did 15 years ago, with average annual earnings now at just £7,000, while facing new threats from generative AI that could further undermine their profession. A recent roundtable convened by the New Statesman and the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), a UK organization that collects licensing fees for writers, explored how to create sustainable futures for freelance journalism amid these mounting economic pressures and technological disruptions. The big picture: The journalism industry is experiencing a perfect storm of declining revenues, increased reliance on freelance labor, and emerging AI...
read Aug 11, 2025Reddit blocks Internet Archive to protect $200M AI licensing deals
Reddit has blocked the Internet Archive from indexing its content after discovering AI companies were circumventing Reddit's scraping restrictions by harvesting data from archived pages instead. The move effectively eliminates a key resource for researchers and users who relied on archived Reddit content to track deleted posts and preserve community discussions. What you should know: The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine can now only capture screenshots of Reddit's homepage, not individual threads, profiles, or comments. Previously, the Wayback Machine served as a comprehensive backup of Reddit content, documenting everything from deleted posts to user activity across various subreddits. Moving forward, the...
read Aug 7, 202580% of consumers use zero-click searches for 40% of queries, says study
The rise of zero-click searches is fundamentally disrupting digital marketing as AI-powered search results increasingly provide answers without requiring users to visit websites. According to Bain & Company, a global consulting firm, 80% of consumers rely on zero-click answers for at least 40% of their searches, forcing marketers to completely rethink strategies that have long depended on driving website traffic and capturing leads through traditional conversion funnels. What you should know: Zero-click searches occur when users find the information they need directly on search engine results pages without clicking through to websites. AI overviews, snippets, and info boxes now provide...
read Aug 6, 2025Google defends AI search features against website traffic decline claims
Google has defended its AI-powered search features against claims they're reducing website traffic, with VP and Head of Search Liz Reid arguing that organic click volume remains "relatively stable year-over-year." The response directly counters third-party reports suggesting AI Overviews and similar features are harming web publishers, highlighting Google's financial stake in maintaining a healthy web ecosystem since advertising revenue depends on continued site engagement. What they're saying: Google emphasizes that AI features are actually improving the quality of user interactions with websites. "Average click quality has increased and we're actually sending slightly more quality clicks to websites than a year...
read Aug 6, 2025Art of the Steal: News Corp warns AI is cannibalizing Trump’s book sales
News Corp is warning Donald Trump that artificial intelligence is cannibalizing sales of his books, including The Art of the Deal, by allowing AI systems to profit from his intellectual property without permission. The media conglomerate owned by Rupert Murdoch used its earnings report to highlight how AI companies are undermining book sales across the publishing industry, even affecting high-profile authors like the president. What they're saying: News Corp delivered a pointed message about AI's impact on intellectual property rights in its fourth-quarter earnings statement. "The AI age must cherish the value of intellectual property if we are collectively to...
read Aug 5, 2025Perplexity pushes back, calls Cloudflare’s AI crawler claims “embarrassing errors”
Perplexity has fired back at Cloudflare's accusations that the AI company uses stealth crawlers to bypass website restrictions, calling the claims "embarrassing errors" and questioning Cloudflare's technical competence. The dispute escalates a growing battle over AI companies' data collection practices, with Perplexity accusing Cloudflare, a content delivery network provider, of fundamental misunderstandings about how modern AI assistants operate. The original accusations: Cloudflare claimed Perplexity was disguising its web crawlers as regular Chrome browsers to scrape content from sites that had explicitly blocked its official bots through robots.txt files and firewall rules.• The CDN company said it observed Perplexity rotating through...
read Aug 4, 2025Google’s AI overviews devastate website traffic as users bypass primary sources
Google's AI-powered search overviews are dramatically reducing website traffic as users increasingly get answers directly from search results without clicking through to original sources. This shift threatens to devastate publishers and businesses that have built their revenue models around search engine referrals, with industry experts describing the impact as nothing short of catastrophic for traditional web-based business models. The big picture: The integration of AI summaries into Google search results fundamentally changes how people consume information online. Users now receive direct answers "above the fold" through AI overviews, eliminating the need to click through to websites for basic information. This...
read Aug 1, 2025Reddit targets Google with human-focused search strategy
Reddit is positioning itself as a search engine competitor to Google, with CEO Steve Huffman announcing plans to make the platform a "go-to search engine" that leverages human-generated content over AI responses. The move capitalizes on Reddit's unique position as a destination for authentic human insights, with 60 million daily users already turning to the platform for answers and Google paying $60 million annually to license Reddit's content for AI training. What you should know: Reddit is actively testing and expanding Reddit Answers, an AI-powered feature that curates summaries exclusively from Reddit threads rather than generating new content. Reddit Answers...
read Aug 1, 2025Bing grows 3% while Google drops 6% in AI-driven search shift
Microsoft's Bing search engine has gained market share over the past two years while Google has experienced slight declines, marking a notable shift in the search landscape driven by AI integration. This growth represents the first meaningful challenge to Google's search dominance in years, with Bing benefiting from both direct AI features and backend partnerships with popular AI tools. The numbers: Recent data from ComScore and StatCounter shows Bing growing while Google shrinks slightly over the past two years. Bing has grown by approximately 2% according to ComScore and 3% according to StatCounter since early 2023. Google has dropped by...
read Jul 29, 2025Newsweek honors 3 AI companies that boost human creativity
Newsweek has announced the winners of its AI Impact Awards 2025 in Arts & Media, recognizing three companies that use artificial intelligence to enhance rather than replace human creativity. The awards highlight how AI is being deployed across PR, publishing, and filmmaking to increase efficiency, democratize access, and amplify creative output while preserving the essential human elements that drive these industries. What you should know: All three winners emphasize that AI serves as a powerful tool to augment human creativity rather than eliminate it. Interdependence, a PR and strategic communications firm, uses AI for trend identification in PR campaigns, Spines...
read Jul 28, 2025Vogue features first AI model in Guess ad, sparking industry, plus-size model backlash
Vogue magazine has featured its first AI-generated model in a Guess advertisement, sparking controversy about beauty standards and the future of the modeling industry. The flawless blonde AI model, created by Seraphinne Vallora, appears in the August print edition promoting Guess's summer collection, raising concerns about the impact on real models and consumers already struggling with unrealistic beauty ideals. What you should know: The AI model was created by Seraphinne Vallora after Guess co-founder Paul Marciano approached the company on Instagram. The creation process took up to a month and involved developing 10 draft models before selecting the final blonde...
read Jul 25, 2025Google tests Gemini-powered Web Guide to organize search results
Google is testing a new "Web Guide" feature that uses its Gemini AI to organize search results into curated sections with grouped web links. The experimental feature aims to blend AI-powered organization with traditional search results, offering users a more structured way to find information while maintaining direct access to source websites. What you should know: Web Guide represents Google's latest attempt to integrate AI into search without completely replacing traditional blue links.• Unlike AI Overviews that dominate the top of search pages, Web Guide maintains the familiar search structure while using AI to organize results into helpful categories.• The...
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