The Rise of AI Agents and What It Means for Newsrooms

When asked to name the single development that will shape the next year, Markus Franz, Chief Technology Officer of Ippen Digital, was unequivocal: the shift from AI assistants to agents.

To understand what this future looks like, we distilled the core takeaways from a recent conversation on the AI Frontrunners in News podcast with Markus.  

What is an AI agent, anyway? 

Franz relies on different analogies to bring the concept to life. For instance, he likens going from AI assistance to AI agents as “moving from cruise control to a self-driving car.” In the newsroom, this looks like using AI to make existing workflows more efficient, to introducing entirely new ways of working.  

Another way to think about AI agents, Franz suggests, is to see them as “junior colleagues” who are delegated specific tasks, from “researching, testing ideas, and handling routines”, while the human professional retains ultimate control and strategic oversight.  

If the “junior colleague” metaphor defines the agent’s function, Franz offers another that defines its nature: that of a “quiet colleague.” That listens, that remembers, that connects, and acts.” This framing emphasizes the agent’s role as a supportive partner that can handle information at scale, freeing up human journalists to focus on what they do best: applying judgment, building narratives, and making connections. 

[It’s like] moving from cruise control to a self-driving car.

Markus Franz

CTO, Ippen Digital

How journalists’ roles are changing 

The rise of agentic AI doesn’t mean the end of the journalist, but it does signal a significant evolution of the journalist’s role. As AI agents take on more end-to-end processes, human professionals will become the orchestrators of these complex systems. The central strategic decision journalists and product designers will now face is determining how much agency to grant these systems. 

This choice of when to “lean in” versus when to “lean back” will define the new roles emerging in the newsroom. Franz identifies several possibilities: 

• Operator: Directly managing the agent’s tasks and parameters. 

• Collaborator: Working alongside the agent in a partnership. 

• Consultant: Providing expert guidance and feedback to the system. 

• Approver: Giving the final sign-off on AI-generated work. 

• Observer: Monitoring the system’s performance and output from a distance. 

The modern journalist’s role is thus transformed from pure content creator to a sophisticated manager of technical systems, where human judgment is applied at the most critical points of an agent-driven workflow. 

Learn more about AI, Tech & the Future of News

Join senior news leaders and hear Markus Franz speak at the Digital Growth Summit on October 14, 2025, in Stuttgart. It will be a full day of insights, workshops, panels, case studies, and a live podcast recording. Discover the full program and speaker lineup.

Human curiosity becomes the ultimate value 

In what may be the central paradox of the agentic age, Franz argues that as machine intelligence becomes a commodity, uniquely human qualities become exponentially more valuable. While AI can process data and generate creative text at an unprecedented scale, it cannot replicate the foundational pillars of great journalism. 

According to Franz, the unique selling proposition of journalism remains rooted in uniquely human qualities: trust, context, and judgment. A machine can mimic a writer’s voice, but it cannot build genuine trust with a community or apply nuanced ethical judgment. 

Furthermore, he makes a crucial distinction between creativity and curiosity. While an AI may one day master creativity, he argues that genuine curiosity—the innate human drive to ask why and uncover what’s hidden—is what truly fuels journalism. This means the most vital skill for the journalist of the future will not be writing the perfect sentence, but asking the right questions.  

What AI agents mean for the future of news 

The shift from assistants to agents signals a redefinition of newsroom roles, not their replacement. As more processes are delegated to machines, the competitive edge will lie in how effectively organizations design workflows that balance agency between humans and systems. For publishers, this means investing not just in AI capabilities, but in structures that safeguard trust, context, and editorial judgment—qualities no machine can replicate.