The news: Since ChatGPT exploded onto the scene earlier this year, the world has anxiously had its eye on digital publishing, the industry that seems most likely to be negatively affected by the potentially job-taking tech.

In response, publishers are launching task forces to test the tech. BuzzFeed, BridgeTower Media, Forbes, Ingenio and Trusted Media Brands are among those experimenting with AI, per Digiday reporting.

The publishers’ approach: Many of these publishers have working groups of employees from various departments testing and creating guidelines around AI use, while also identifying potential AI products to develop.

• What’s the main motivator behind these working groups? Predictably, it’s “cost-savings, increased velocity, and new products,” BridgeTower Media exec David Saaybe told Digiday.
• It’s no secret that the digital publishing industry has been in decline for nearly a decade and isn’t going to get better anytime soon, what with the end of third-party cookies on Chrome looming in the distance.
• Media executives believe that AI can help do both. BridgeTower also emphasized AI’s ability to improve search engine optimization and produce higher quality in quicker time. Of course, BridgeTower and others are quick to mention that these task forces are also looking into the ethics, quality, and safety surrounding AI.

Put in practice: There are already several prominent examples of companies using AI to produce content. But those efforts haven’t always gone so swimmingly.

• In an attempt to be a trailblazer, Red Ventures-owned CNET instead found itself in a crisis when it had to redact a large number of AI-generated articles that were riddled with factual errors. Weeks after its use of AI came to light, it laid off 10% of its staff.
• BuzzFeed is another company that’s used AI to publish articles, and it’s easy to see why—the company’s stock has been crumbling since it went public in 2021. When it announced it was using AI to write, the buzzy tech gave its stock a bump—but it didn’t take long for things to settle right back down.
• Still, it’s important to recognize that AI has been commonly used in publishing for a while now. The Associated Press and CNBC are among those that have used AI for purposes like quickly reporting quarterly earnings reports or breaking news.
• A memo from Nicholas Carlson, editor-in-chief of Insider Intelligence sister company Insider, about adopting AI in the newsroom also reveals the tech’s tricky duality: Carlson touts the time-saving potential and quality of the tech as a benefit to the newsroom, but spent a majority of the memo warning against specific uses that could lead to “journalistic disaster.”

Our take: For some in the struggling publishing industry, AI represents a life-or-death scenario that’s been looming on the horizon for years—get ahead of the curve, or be rendered obsolete by the fast-rising tech. It’s natural that companies want to cut costs and find ways to become more efficient as they enter survival mode, but it’s not clear yet that AI’s benefits outweigh potential risks.