The business of news in the AI economy

Abstract

This article considers the impact of AI on the economy and financing of journalism organizations. AI has structural implications on the news media beyond the practice of journalism and the management of news as a process. AI also shifts the premises of competition, competitive advantage, mergers and acquisitions, and IT capabilities in the news industries. Not least, it fundamentally challenges journalism's traditional business model. Considered hereunder is the two-sided market model, journalism's traditional platform function, its network effects, and its public good characteristics. The aim of the article is, thus, to reconceptualize core economic features of the news industries in the context of AI to provide a vocabulary with which to assess the economic future of journalism in a data-driven platform economy.