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A favourite adage of mine - “pessimists sound smart, optimists get rich”. After spending eight years in NYC as a Brit, this could be applied to national attitudes. I miss the eternal positivity and can-do attitude of US innovators, while the UK often wallows in doom.

For media and publishing leaders, 2026 will be the year to silence the doomsters and power ahead with AI tools and strategic bets. They could do worse than watch the a16z Big Ideas series of podcasts - learn how AI will move from a static query and a prompt box to execution, how to design products that machines can understand, and how voice interaction will become the standard.

My prediction, and hope, is that 2026 will see AI move from ad hoc tools to full-scale AI transformation. Using a note taker or co-pilot is easy; a full-on transformation is hard. The usual blockers will need to be addressed — siloed data, lack of policy, strategic misalignment, trust around accuracy, and lack of skills. Large, complex news organisations will have to rewire the whole building, including new org charts that reflect the work being done by teams of agents.

To win these arguments, and to return to a recurring theme, AI needs to be seen as an exciting new way to tell stories that better inform the audience, not a cost-cutter.

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has helpfully interviewed 17 media leaders on how AI will reshape the news in 2026. The attitudes are predominantly optimistic, with refreshing ideas around data journalism, synthetic audiences for testing, and a new “answer economy” which will drive less traffic but more discerning, high-intent readers.

2026 will also see plenty of news about AI, in itself a boon for newsrooms — large public companies will falter (looking at you, Oracle and Coreweave), China will dump more free models on the west, politics and public opinion will harden against rising electricity prices, and RAM prices will outperform Bitcoin. But these are all noises off. The underlying technology will carry on regardless.

Innovation requires humility, tenacity, acuity, audacity, curiosity and optimism. Leaders need to identify colleagues with these attributes and assign them responsibility for AI adoption. Pessimists need not apply.

Maduro the movie: one day after the news from Caracas dropped, someone had already made a dramatic anime short film. Is this the future of storytelling? I don’t know, but before you knock it too much, the reception on YouTube and socials was almost universally “so fkn dope” and “bro cooking”, i.e. “more please”. All I know is that this is powerful and needs to be in the right hands.

Mark Riley, CEO Mathison AI

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AI and Journalism ​

How AI will reshape news in 2026, according to 17 experts
The Reuters Institute gathered 17 global experts who predict that automation, AI “agents,” and workflow tools will become deeply woven into news production, from research and drafting to distribution, while forcing leaders to invest in skills, infrastructure, and governance to keep human journalism at the core. They expect data journalism to be further empowered, audience experiences to become more personalised, and newsroom roles to evolve as AI takes over more routine tasks but raises new questions about trust, transparency, and competitive differentiation.​
Source: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism – “How will AI reshape the news in 2026? Forecasts by 17 experts from around the world” (5 January 2026)​
Link: https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/how-will-ai-reshape-news-2026-forecasts-17-experts-around-world​

2025’s wave of publisher–AI deals sets the stage for 2026 (paywalled)
A year-end Digiday overview shows that 2025 saw a rapid acceleration of licensing deals between news publishers and AI companies. These arrangements typically grant AI firms access to news content in exchange for payment, attribution, and technology collaboration. Source: Digiday – “A 2025 timeline of AI deals between publishers and AI tech companies” (31 December 2025)​
Link: https://digiday.com/media/a-timeline-of-the-major-deals-between-publishers-and-ai-tech-companies-in-2025/

AI for Newsrooms

CBC News outlines ‘AI-assisted’ vs ‘AI-generated’ content for its audience
CBC News has published guidance explaining how it will use AI “responsibly” to support journalism, drawing a clear line between AI‑assisted work, where journalists remain primary creators, and AI‑generated content, which will not be used without explicit disclosure. The policy emphasises human editorial control, transparency to audiences, and a commitment to avoid surprising users with undisclosed AI involvement in audio, video, or text output.​
Source: CBC / Public Media Alliance – “How CBC News will use AI responsibly to benefit our journalism and keep your trust” (9 December 2025, widely cited in public media circles)​
Link: https://www.publicmediaalliance.org/how-cbc-news-will-use-ai-responsibly-to-benefit-our-journalism-and-keep-your-trust/

Why AI images are okay in ethical local journalism
The Zebra’s publisher argues that using AI‑generated images is a pragmatic, ethical way for a small local newsroom to keep pace with digital expectations when staff photographers, stock art, or timely original visuals are not always available. The piece frames current criticism of AI images as a moral panic similar to earlier backlashes against digital photography and desktop publishing, and insists what really matters is clear labelling, avoiding deception in news photos, and maintaining human editorial judgement over when AI art is appropriate versus when real documentary images are required.​
Source: The Zebra Press – “Why AI Images are Okay in Ethical Local Journalism” (3 January 2026)​
Link: https://thezebra.org/2026/01/03/ai-images-journalism-local-news/

AI is transforming journalism faster than the public realises
The article explains that AI is already deeply embedded in newsroom workflows – powering tasks such as research, transcription, translation, and content optimisation – but most people still think of AI in news as a future or fringe development. This gap between rapid professional adoption and slower public awareness creates new trust and transparency challenges, prompting calls for more transparent disclosure of AI use, stronger ethical guidelines, and robust European regulation so that innovation in AI‑driven journalism does not outpace audience understanding or democratic safeguards.​
Source: Euractiv – “Public don’t perceive how fast AI is reshaping journalism” (Advocacy Lab feature, summarised via related reporting and analyses)​
Link: https://www.euractiv.com/news/public-dont-perceive-how-fast-ai-is-reshaping-journalism/ ​

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This newsletter was partly curated and summarised by AI agents, who can make mistakes. Check all important information. For any issues or inaccuracies, please notify us here

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