Media Outlets Start Producing Content Aimed at AI Agents Rather Than Humans
Some media companies, including US outlet Axios and tech publisher Every, are building content intended for AI agents. Publishers hope to reach audiences who increasingly read news through AI, but the revenue model remains unclear.
Several US media companies have begun producing content meant not for human readers but for artificial intelligence (AI) agents, which search, collect and summarize news on a user's behalf, according to technology outlet Wired. The trend follows growing use of AI to consume news: San Diego public relations consultant Michelle Seo, for example, has an AI agent called Chattiana that prepares her daily agenda and conversation topics each morning from newsletters she subscribes to.
Axios builds feeds for agents
US news outlet Axios announced Axios Direct in September at the Digiday Publishing Summit, a project of news feeds for AI agents. According to chief revenue officer Jacquelyn Cameron, the feeds cut back on narrative in favor of structured data, closer to a Bloomberg terminal than to articles. The first feed, launched this fall, gives agents of Axios Pro Deals subscribers access to merger-and-acquisition content. A second feed, planned for next year, will serve as a source for training in-house large language models. A third, also planned for next year, will target individual subscribers.
Every lets agents create personalized pieces
Every, a tech media and software company founded by Dan Shipper, includes prompts in its articles that readers can paste into AI tools, along with buttons reading “Read With Claude” or “Read With ChatGPT.” A recent 8,000-word article about Codex lets subscribers' agents draw on a reporting database to build a piece suited to the reader, whether an article, podcast or video.
Profit remains uncertain
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, a professor of communication at the University of Copenhagen, describes publishing for agents as “emerging,” immature and “extremely uneven.” Price points and future agent behavior remain open questions. A full Axios Pro Deals subscription costs $2,499 a year, while Every costs $288. Axios executives say they see AI not as the audience itself but as a tool that helps reach their audience.
