News publishers and industry operators have called on artificial intelligence companies to develop revenue-sharing arrangements with publishers whose journalism is increasingly used to generate AI-powered summaries.
They warn that continued declines in website traffic and advertising revenue could undermine the economics of professional journalism.
The call was made during the second edition of SquirrelPR’s annual industry webinar, “How Brands Can Prepare for AI Search and Declining Organic Discovery,” which brought together journalists, publishers, technology and communications professionals to examine how AI is reshaping information discovery.
SquirrelPR, an African PR infrastructure platform known for building tools and creating platforms for industry conversations, launched the webinar series last year with a discussion on “How Storytelling Can Help Shape Africa’s Narrative.”
The latest conversation built on findings from its RANKED report, launched in April, which highlighted a significant decline in website visits as audiences increasingly consume information without clicking through to publishers’ platforms.
For publishers, the concern is not simply that AI is changing search behaviour, but that the technology can increasingly deliver the value of journalism without sending users to the organisations that produced it.
Victor Oluwole, Managing Director of Business Insider Africa, captured the shift in a keynote address: “Being found no longer guarantees being visited. Impressions do not pay for journalism; a visit to the website is what pays for journalism.”
David Afolayan, Managing Director of Technext, said the impact is already visible in publisher revenues, arguing that AI companies benefiting from publishers’ content should share the value they create from it.
“Our views are declining by over 60 percent year in, year out. We are losing revenue by over 30 percent, and the AI companies are growing by leaps and bounds,” he said. “If they are using our data for their chatbot, there should be a way we can share the revenue.”
The pressure extends beyond traffic and revenue. Oluwole noted that AI has made information significantly cheaper to produce, while creating a more difficult environment for journalists who must establish what is authentic.
The proliferation of fake quotes, cloned voices, deepfakes and fabricated documents means there is now “more information than ever, but trusted information is becoming expensive to verify.”
Other speakers stressed that adaptation remains essential for publishers and communicators. Thuita Gatero, Managing Editor and Team Lead at Africa Digest News, said publishers must continually reassess what they are optimising for.
“Am I optimising for AI or am I optimising for my revenues?” he asked, adding that his focus is whether his publication remains “credible, trustworthy, and relevant” to its audience.
Damilola Olatunji, Head of Monetisation and AI at BellaNaija, similarly observed that the reader ecosystem is constantly changing and publishers must evolve with it, noting that what audiences consumed or paid attention to five years ago may not command the same interest today.
Joyce Imiegha, Founder and CEO of Renee PR, connected the disruption to the wider business role of communications, arguing that communications objectives and business objectives cannot be treated separately, since poor communication can ultimately affect business performance and brand reputation.
While speakers acknowledged that publishers must adapt to changing audience behaviour and technology, the discussion reinforced a broader concern that adaptation alone cannot solve a structural revenue problem.
As AI companies increasingly depend on professionally produced journalism to answer users’ questions, participants argued that sustainable models should recognise the economic value of the content and reporting underpinning those answers.
For SquirrelPR, the discussion represents a continuation of its effort to create platforms where Africa’s media, communications and technology communities can confront emerging industry challenges collectively.
The central question, participants said, is no longer whether AI will change discovery, but whether the ecosystem can evolve in a way that preserves both innovation and the journalism that makes reliable information possible.
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