AI is Eating Media (And That's Not Entirely Bad News)
Want to know the secret to producing content at lightning speed without sacrificing quality? AI is eating media, and it's only the beginning! 🚀
According to a new report from our mothership, the media industry is having its iPhone moment, but instead of sleek hardware, we're getting algorithms churning out articles faster than an over caffeinated journalist on deadline. The numbers don't lie: AI in media hit $25.98 billion in 2024 and will jump to $33.68 billion this year. That's 30% growth in twelve months. Its a trajectory that makes venture capitalists salivate.
Yet, here's where it gets interesting (and slightly terrifying): 53% of executives are already using generative AI regularly, while their middle managers are still figuring out ChatGPT. This top-down adoption means decisions about AI integration are being made in boardrooms, not newsrooms. Whether that's genius or disaster remains to be seen.
The Platform Insurgents Are Coming
While legacy media companies fumble with "AI strategy committees," nimble startups are building the future. Take LettsNews (a sister project) – they've created an AI newsroom that goes from story idea to quality published piece in minutes, not hours. Our team here at The Letts Journal uses it to support our special brand of punchy commentary and edgy insights.
Meanwhile another close to us, LettsCore, is solving the attribution crisis that's about to explode as AI-generated content floods the internet. Their blockchain-based approach to content provenance isn't just clever tech – it's survival gear for creators and smaller publishers who want to get paid in an AI world.
Together they have helped us peek into the Alice-like new media newsroom. And once you've seen it... try unseeing it!
These aren't incremental improvements; they're complete reimaginations of how media works. LettsNews lets you write once and distribute everywhere at the push of a button. What used to take newsroom teams hours now happens in minutes. It's not just efficiency – it's economic disruption with a capital D. Meaning we’ve got less excuse than ever not to bring you the best. Oh, wait...
The Great Media Job Scramble
Let's (excuse the brand pun) address the elephant in the newsroom: AI is coming for media jobs, hard. The World Economic Forum predicts 41% of employers will cut their workforce over the next five years due to AI automation. Writers, translators, and historians are at the top of the hit list. And that was before the latest and greatest from Trump 2.0!
But here's the twist nobody's talking about – while AI might displace 85 million jobs, it's creating 97 million new ones. The winners will be those who learn to dance with the machines, not against them. Think AI-augmented investigators, synthetic media specialists, and content authenticity experts.
Three Years from Now: The Crystal Ball
By 2028, expect AI-native media organisations operating with 70% fewer humans than today's outlets. They'll produce hyper-personalised content streams that make current recommendation algorithms look primitive. Virtual personalities will host shows and break news. Real-time event synthesis will provide comprehensive coverage within minutes of anything happening anywhere. Niche publications like ours could reinvent themselves and look like a giant in the land of poodles (or is it doodles).
The report reveals that traditional media companies have roughly 18 months to transform or become irrelevant. Those betting on gradual adoption while competitors go full-AI are playing checkers in a chess tournament. And we’re crap at both!
And it's not just AI transforming the media landscape. Newsrooms are shrinking and all those journalists and editors aren't disappearing. They're going out on their own creating their own brands and going direct to their readers. That means the AI revolution is becoming even more important as newsrooms become small direct to consumer businesses, journos are looking for the time and cost savings that AI will provide. So they can concentrate on their craft and their readers.
The Bottom Line for Forward Thinkers
The media revolution isn't coming – it's here, happening now, rewiring everything. The companies building AI-first, blockchain-verified, instantly-distributable content platforms are writing tomorrow's rules today. Smart money is backing innovative new AI and media platforms. Smarter people are learning these tools now rather than pretending they'll go away. Meaning even we might have a chance.
The question isn't whether AI will transform media – it's whether publications like ours and larger traditional media outfits will help write that transformation or watch it happen.
Time to pick a side. The algorithms are waiting.
This article first appeared at The Letts Journal. Meaning we're not dead yet...