As the world enters its third year since the launch of “ChatGPT,” the press sector is undergoing a profound structural transformation, according to a new report issued by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. The report anticipates the features of news in 2026, based on the insights of 17 international media experts.
The report agrees that artificial intelligence will not be limited to being an assistive tool, but will become the environment in which news is produced and consumed.
Experts predict the public will move from searching via links to what they call the “answer economy,” where users rely on AI agents for quick answers, which will lead to a decrease in direct visits to news sites.
Experts believe that the challenge facing media organizations is not “using artificial intelligence,” but the ability to adapt within this system and consider it the main interface for information.
On the editorial level, the report predicts the demise of the “one-article” model, and the transformation of content into dynamic units that are automatically assembled according to the reader’s needs. In addition, the report will witness the spread of interactive audio experiences that combine reading and listening, forcing journalism to redesign the shape of news stories.
In contrast, with the flow of automatically generated content, “truth” will become the rarest resource. Experts warn of the rise of deep fakes, which will force press organizations to invest in digital verification tools, and transform the documentation process itself into a basic product that answers the public’s question: “Is this true?”.
Internally, the report indicates that newsrooms will rebuild their structures, with the expansion of the role of artificial intelligence in drafting drafts, managing data, analyzing huge documents, and the emergence of new jobs focusing on “data engineering” instead of simply using the traditional archive.
The “Reuters” report concludes by pointing out that 2026 will not be a year for experiments, but a decisive year. The institutions that realize that artificial intelligence is not just a technical addition, but rather the system in which journalism will live or exit, will remain.
