Google’s AI tools are costing news outlets millions of readers

The integration of AI-generated summaries into Google’s search results is turning into a serious crisis for the media industry.

According to TechCrunch, many news sites are losing millions of visitors — directly hitting ad revenue, their primary source of funding.

Data from Similarweb shows that The New York Times’ share of traffic from organic search dropped from 44% in 2022 to 36.5% in April 2025. Sites offering practical content — reviews, how-tos, travel guides, and health tips — have been hit the hardest.

Google maintains that its AI features don’t reduce traffic but actually expand it. However, publishers argue that the real beneficiary is Google itself — not the websites whose content the AI rephrases.

Some major players are already adapting to the new reality. The New York Times struck a deal with Amazon, granting access to its archives to train its AI. The Atlantic is working with OpenAI. AI search platform Perplexity has promised to share ad revenue with publishers whose articles are used to generate its responses.

Still, calls to rethink outdated business models are growing louder. Editors-in-chief at The Washington Post and The Atlantic have warned publicly: unless the industry restructures, journalism could be left without a sustainable source of funding.