According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Google’s AI tools, such as AI Overviews and chatbots, are causing a decline in traffic for news publishers. The use of chatbots allows users to get answers without clicking on links, leading to a decrease in referrals to news sites. Google’s AI Overviews tool, released last year, has impacted traffic to sites like vacation guides and product reviews. The New York Times saw a drop in organic search traffic to their sites, prompting industry leaders to consider new business models to address this challenge. Some publishers have even formed partnerships with AI companies to generate additional revenue streams.
