The AI Era, the End of Media?

Is the AI wave pushing traditional media to the brink of death?

Recently, veteran media person Om Malik published an in-depth article, revealing the dilemmas traditional media face in digital transformation with his profound insights into the internet and media over the years.

Malik believes that traditional media has failed to fully understand the development trends of the internet and digitalization, and they are now making the same mistakes in the AI field.

AI platforms not only disrupt the channels through which users discover content but also impact the business models of media. Malik predicts that in the future, content consumption patterns will involve users obtaining personalized content summaries through AI agents, making it difficult for traditional media models to sustain.

The Disruption of Traditional Media by AI

Malik bluntly points out that traditional media has long lagged in its understanding of the internet, missing multiple opportunities for transformation.

From initially ignoring the internet to later losing out in competition with tech giants like Google and Facebook, traditional media has consistently failed to grasp the pulse of the digital age.

Now, faced with the onslaught of AI, they are making the same mistake again, failing to fully recognize the enormous impact of this technological revolution.

This is because AI platforms are fundamentally different from traditional search engines. Search engines rely on keyword-based retrieval, while AI platforms can provide personalized, highly condensed information summaries based on user preferences. This "feeding" style of information acquisition means users no longer need to actively search for information; instead, AI agents do it for them.

This is undoubtedly a fatal blow for traditional media that relies on content distribution.

Malik further points out that the personalized responses provided by AI platforms make it difficult for traditional media monetization models to survive:

“In the future, no media business model will work—advertising and paywalls will not work.”

Even media outlets like The Atlantic, which have reached content partnerships with OpenAI, only gain some short-term benefits, and in the long run, it does not solve the fundamental issues. Malik compares this to "high-sugar drinks":

“After high sugar comes the inevitable crash.”

Is the "death knell" ringing for traditional media?

The article also reviews the negative impact of social media on the media industry. Malik believes that the pursuit of clicks and interactions by social media has led media to sacrifice the depth and quality of content to cater to algorithms. Excessive advertisements and interruptions in information flow have also made users feel weary, accelerating their estrangement from traditional media.

“Try sitting and watching 10 minutes of CNN or any cable news program. The screaming, shouting, and superficiality make it easy for people to overlook traditional media.”

Malik believes that the original vision of the internet was connection, collaboration, and discovery, but it has now been distorted by various business models. The emergence of AI has made "discovery" irrelevant, as AI actively "discovers" the information users need for them.

Finally, Malik makes a bold prediction: the future of content consumption will be an "AI-dominated" era, where users obtain personalized content summaries through AI agents, and traditional media business models will be completely ineffective. ** He believes that the content transaction between traditional media and AI platforms is merely a stopgap measure and cannot fundamentally solve the problem.

Malik's article undoubtedly sounds the death knell for traditional media. The era of AI has arrived, and the media industry must undergo a thorough transformation, or it may face the fate of being eliminated