News Machines

News Machines analyzes how news media in the U.S. and worldwide are innovating with AI. One new case study every week.

New posts

Why news publishers need to focus on AI agents more than scrapers

Oct 8, 2026

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8 min read

Why news publishers need to focus on AI agents more than scrapers

AI assistants that spend their owners’ money have arrived. So have the first tools to track how AI uses news. Publishers who start tracking now will have something to sell – and proof when their content is stolen.

Ulrike Langer

How the data journalist Marco Maas used AI to build a second brain

Sep 30, 2026

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8 min read

How the data journalist Marco Maas used AI to build a second brain

Marco's agent Marvin now runs large parts of his working life and learns from every mistake. What makes it trustworthy is not the language model but the rules and checks built around it.

Ulrike Langer

Sep 23, 2026

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8 min read

How I built an agentic system that evaluates 200 newsletters a day

My setup is immensely useful. But the early automation still failed because of the human factor. Here’s how I fixed that and how you can build your own system step by step.

Ulrike Langer

How the same quiz format performed 45 times better in a different spot

News publishers and their audiences love quizzes. But configuration and placement matter more than you might think. Two case studies from the Swiss broadcaster SRF and the German website sport.de prove the point.

Ulrike Langer

What 3,326 documented AI cases reveal about how little AI has changed the news business

Sep 9, 2026

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7 min read

What 3,326 documented AI cases reveal about how little AI has changed the news business

Katya Gorchinskaya's free database J·Index maps newsroom AI adoption across 130 countries. Spoiler: Almost everyone is stuck on the lower rungs of the ladder

Ulrike Langer

How to price your journalism for AI when you're flying blind

Aug 18, 2026

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10 min read

How to price your journalism for AI when you're flying blind

News publishers can finally state terms that AI crawlers understand. But you can’t confirm yet who they are.

Ulrike Langer

How Writers' Bloc wants to get small publishers paid when AI steals their work

Aug 12, 2026

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6 min read

How Writers' Bloc wants to get small publishers paid when AI steals their work

A fingerprint for every article, a watchdog for the web and AI models, and an alliance for collective bargaining. I interviewed the founder — and I'm signing up.

Ulrike Langer

Which media companies are making money with AI in real life, and how are they doing it?

Aug 5, 2026

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6 min read

Which media companies are making money with AI in real life, and how are they doing it?

I found out by querying Sergei Yakupov's AI for Newsroom database for free — and so can you. Here are my analysis and some tipps for your own queries.

Ulrike Langer

How to tell whether your AI visibility is worth anything

Jul 29, 2026

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5 min read

How to tell whether your AI visibility is worth anything

AI sends traffic that converts better than almost any other channel. But news publishers who get cited most are not the ones receiving it.

Ulrike Langer

Premium

How SPUR wants to make AI companies report what they do with your journalism

Jul 21, 2026

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9 min read

How SPUR wants to make AI companies report what they do with your journalism

Every AI licensing deal signed so far has been priced blind. A new telemetry standard is meant to end that — if AI companies agree to be measured.

Ulrike Langer

Why AI agents might finally be the perfect micro-payers

Jul 14, 2026

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6 min read

Why AI agents might finally be the perfect micro-payers

AI companies are abandoning the flat rate. Here’s what news publishers can do to turn that shift to their advantage.

Ulrike Langer

How TIME, The Economist and Dow Jones each decided what to expose to AI agents

Jul 7, 2026

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5 min read

How TIME, The Economist and Dow Jones each decided what to expose to AI agents

Three of the smartest names in media looked at the AI-agent future and moved in different directions, protecting their unique assets.

Ulrike Langer

How a cycling website turned its newsroom tools into the product

Jul 1, 2026

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7 min read

How a cycling website turned its newsroom tools into the product

Velora Cycling looks like an AI-native publication. Seven months in, it's really a software company with a cycling site as the demo.

Ulrike Langer

Premium

How a War-Zone Newsroom in Ukraine Uses AI To Listen

Jun 24, 2026

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7 min read

How a War-Zone Newsroom in Ukraine Uses AI To Listen

The Kyiv Independent employs machines to learn the needs of its paying members and sends humans where machines can’t go.

Ulrike Langer

Premium

Why a non-techie wrote one of the most useful AI guides for newsrooms

Jun 16, 2026

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6 min read

Why a non-techie wrote one of the most useful AI guides for newsrooms

A review of Martin Schori’s “AI in the Newsroom” — three years building and running Aftonbladet’s AI hub turned into a practical guide for curious journalists and newsroom leaders

Ulrike Langer

News Machines

New posts

Why news publishers need to focus on AI agents more than scrapers

How the data journalist Marco Maas used AI to build a second brain

How I built an agentic system that evaluates 200 newsletters a day

Archive

How the same quiz format performed 45 times better in a different spot

What 3,326 documented AI cases reveal about how little AI has changed the news business

How to price your journalism for AI when you're flying blind

How Writers' Bloc wants to get small publishers paid when AI steals their work

Which media companies are making money with AI in real life, and how are they doing it?

How to tell whether your AI visibility is worth anything

How SPUR wants to make AI companies report what they do with your journalism

Why AI agents might finally be the perfect micro-payers

How TIME, The Economist and Dow Jones each decided what to expose to AI agents

How a cycling website turned its newsroom tools into the product

How a War-Zone Newsroom in Ukraine Uses AI To Listen

Why a non-techie wrote one of the most useful AI guides for newsrooms

News Machines