#Publishing

The rise of generative AI is urgently reshaping the global publishing landscape, as powerful chatbots undermine the traditional flows of traffic, revenue, and recognition on which news and book publishers depend. Recent research and first-hand industry accounts suggest this disruption could threaten the very existence of independent journalism worldwide, especially if Thai publishers and readers fail to adapt to this new reality.

Generative AI platforms—such as ChatGPT, Google’s AI Overviews, Claude, Grok, and Perplexity—can now summarize and answer questions about online articles and books, often by drawing on vast troves of written content without explicit permission from authors or publishers. According to a comprehensive study referenced in The Atlantic’s “The End of Publishing as We Know It,” Google’s AI Overviews feature alone has slashed website traffic from search results by over 34%. As a result, news providers reliant on digital traffic for advertising and subscriptions are experiencing dramatic declines in visitors, forcing staff layoffs at prominent outlets and sparking anxiety about the future of professional journalism (The Atlantic).

A new warning from one of the world’s leading internet security executives signals growing trouble for publishers in Thailand and across the globe: users are increasingly trusting AI-generated answers and rarely click through to source links, threatening the sustainability of traditional news and information platforms (Engadget).

Cloudflare CEO, in a recent interview with Axios, paints a stark picture of the shifting digital landscape, where search traffic referrals have experienced a dramatic decline. This trend, he explains, is the result of internet users placing growing faith in AI chatbots’ responses, choosing summaries over original sources, and in the process eroding the ability of publishers to monetize their content. “Publishers are facing an existential threat,” the executive stated. The implications are not limited to the U.S. or Europe—Thailand’s publishers, bloggers, and local content creators are just as vulnerable in this rapidly evolving online ecosystem.