Smarter News Strategies and OpenAI’s Next Moves | Adrian, your AI news curator

OpenAI’s Atlas Browser Challenges Google’s Grip on the Web

Tech Crunch, OpenAI’s new browser is a broadside shot at Google

OpenAI unveiled Atlas, its new AI-powered web browser, positioning it as a complete rethink of how people use the internet. CEO Sam Altman described Atlas as merging chat and browsing into a single, conversational experience, signaling the end of what he called “the previous way people used the internet.”

With 800 million weekly ChatGPT users, Atlas could pull significant traffic from Google Chrome, threatening Google’s dominance in search and ad targeting. Though OpenAI doesn’t yet serve ads, new adtech hires suggest monetization plans may follow, leveraging powerful user context data from browser activity.

Takeaways on AI and the Future of News from Twipe’s Digital Growth Summit

Tomorrow’s Publisher Picks, What’s your AI vision?

In his recap article on the Digital Growth Summit, Alan Hunter shares five key takeaways on how AI is transforming the news industry. One takewaway that was of particlular note is that he observed that publishers urgently need a clear AI vision from leadership. In his workshop session, “three of the five groups we had divided into said right away that they needed a vision from their organisation’s leadership about where they wanted to go with AI.” This would improve their ability to focus resources and investiments into AI.

Another interesting thought experiment come from Nikita Roy’s (Founder & Host of the Newsroom Robots podcast) presentation. She challenged attendees to return to first principles. As she said in her presentation, “If you knew nothing about newsrooms, only that people need trusted, verified information, what would you build with today’s technology?”

The Guardian Thrives Beyond Page Views

Press Gazette, Why The Guardian is no longer dependent on page views to drive revenue

The Guardian is proving that strong reader revenue doesn’t depend on high web traffic. Chief Supporter Revenue Officer Liz Wynn revealed that some of the publisher’s best revenue days come with lower site visits, thanks to a shift toward diversified marketing and supporter engagement.

Digital reader revenue rose 22% to £107m this year, with 1.3 million recurring digital supporters. Email and “campaign moments” now drive contributions more than breaking news cycles, and 64% of Guardian funding comes directly from readers through subscriptions and donations. Wynn emphasized a unified “support” model instead of separate donate/subscribe options and smarter use of on-site prompts.

Five Data-Backed Strategies for Sustainable News

Local Media Association, Data insights on news sustainability from FT Strategies

FT Strategies, in partnership with the Google News Initiative, analyzed data from 400+ publishers worldwide and identified five practices shared by the most successful ones.

1. Direct audience relationships are essential. Publishers with more logged-in users and first-party data see better financial results.
2. Diversification matters, but focus is key: three to four solid revenue streams work best.
3. Continuous investment in editorial quality builds loyalty and long-term value.
4. Technology and data analytics—especially AI—enable smarter decisions and experimentation.
5. Sustainable publishers think long-term, balancing ambitious goals with financial discipline to preserve quality and user experience.

AI-Generated Videos From OpenAI’s Sora 2 Raise New Misinformation Concerns

Poynter, Sora 2 launched to doomsday headlines. How bad is it really?

OpenAI’s new video generator, Sora 2, has quickly become a source of both creativity and controversy. Within hours of its release, users began producing disturbing and misleading videos, including racist deepfakes and violent scenes.

While many Sora videos remain clearly fake, experts warn that the technology’s realism could soon make misinformation harder to spot — especially during crises or political events. OpenAI has added guardrails to curb copyright violations and banned the use of some public figures, but harmful content continues to slip through. Fact-checkers say the platform’s watermark is easily removed and current transparency tools are insufficient. The interviewees argue that real safety measures must happen on the production side, as detection and watermarking struggle to keep pace with rapid AI advances.