As newsrooms embrace artificial intelligence, a quieter shift is underway – not in how journalism is produced, but in how it is consumed. In an evolving media landscape, the article seems no longer to be the final word, but rather, the beginning of the conversation.
Much of the debate so far has focused on the impact of AI within newsrooms, where it has mostly been used to help journalists draft articles, edit, or summarise vast amounts of data.
But with the rise of conversational news, where readers interact with AI by asking follow-up questions, requesting personalised summaries, or even challenging interpretations, their role is transitioning from passive recipient to active participant.
‘Interrogating’ news in real time
More and more, readers are turning to AI tools and chatbots to filter, summarise, and contextualise news for them – at times even bypassing traditional platforms altogether, according to a New Yorker article.
While reading news is a one-way experience in the traditional sense, chatbots are enabling back-and-forth interaction, where readers can receive accessible explanations, no matter whether they have asked insightful or seemingly “stupid” questions.
This conversational exchange is altering the role of an article: instead of it being the definitive, standalone product, it is becoming a springboard for further inquiry, giving readers autonomy in how they engage with the information they receive.
But this reimagining of news consumption also hints at the emergence of a new kind of reader – one who expects interactivity and personalisation, raising questions about the future of editorial authority and journalistic storytelling in an age where AI can tailor the narrative to individual needs.
Natural vs. Artificial
The month-long experiment by Il Foglio, an Italian newspaper, to produce the world’s first daily newspaper entirely created with AI, has finally concluded. Its interesting results, as well as lessons learned, are now in.
They are revealed through a lengthy interview – only this time the “Artificial Foglio” asks the questions and “Natural Foglio” answers them. While more focused on production, the experiment reflects a world where AI is both creator and intermediary.
As expected, AI excelled in tasks like summarising documents, imitating styles, and generating quick drafts, but struggled with originality, nuanced interpretation, and real-world reporting. Human oversight was therefore crucial.
Editors refined prompts, corrected biases, and ensured editorial coherence, highlighting the irreplaceable role of human journalists in breaking stories, developing exclusive insights, and engaging in creative, unpredictable storytelling.
But the experiment will not end here. Il Foglio plans to integrate AI as a weekly feature, implying a reader base that is comfortable engaging with, or even expecting, AI-mediated content.
AI-native readers
These two cases reinforce the idea of a new type of reader whose first point of contact with journalism is artificial intelligence, not traditional media. This trend may be particularly noticeable among younger audiences, who are drawn to fast, filtered, and frictionless news experiences.
This new audience, emerging at the intersection of journalism and generative technology, may never regularly read full articles or visit homepages. Instead, they will interact with news via AI summaries or chat-style digests – pushing newsrooms to rethink what kind of journalism they should produce.
In a fast-paced world, where clickbait headlines follow predictable patterns and can be easily generated by AI – and thus are more likely to be devalued or replaced altogether – a simple “Dear AI, what is happening in the world today?” might do the trick just as fine in providing humans with information.
Questions remain as to whether journalists should start writing with AI interaction in mind, at a time when readers can interrogate the news in real time, or whether they should produce journalism written for bots to explain to humans, possibly leading to a new genre of news production.
Can this kind of conversational AI ultimately foster deeper trust, or does it introduce new risks of bias and misinterpretation? The New York Times’ Zach Seward says this is “just the tip of the iceberg” when it comes to newsrooms embracing AI responsibly, that is.
[Edited By Brian Maguire | Euractiv’s Advocacy Lab ]
