News seekers are turning to AI chatbots for updates. Usage is rising fastest among younger readers. Publishers and advertisers are watching the shift closely.
Media professionals tracking audience behavior are seeing a notable shift: AI chatbots are quickly becoming a go-to source for news, especially among younger users. According to new data from the Oxford Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, the use of generative AI tools for news searches has grown sharply in the past year, with weekly usage across six markets jumping from 18% to 34% between 2024 and 2025.
This year’s figures show global weekly use of AI chatbots for news rising by 7% to 10%, with the strongest growth in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and parts of Southern and Eastern Europe. While only 1% of respondents currently identify AI as their main news source, the increase signals a growing role for chatbots in news consumption. The research, led by Amy Ross Arguedas, highlights the rise of standalone AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Google Gemini as news sources, and examines how these tools are changing user engagement and traffic patterns for publishers.
For publishers, the trend is significant: their own websites and apps saw a 5-point drop in users between 2023 and 2026, the only category to lose ground as platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok all gained users. The shift also presents new opportunities for advertisers, as media buyers consider AI chatbots such as OpenAI’s products as emerging ad platforms.
Younger audiences are driving much of the adoption. Seventeen percent of the youngest age group now use chatbots for news, compared to just 5% among the oldest. The most notable growth since 2025 has come from users aged 25 to 34. However, trust remains a challenge: only 20% of the general population globally trust news from AI chatbots, though that figure rises to 44% among chatbot users. In contrast, just 17% of non-users express trust in AI-sourced news.
Researchers found a strong link between trust and usage: markets with higher trust in AI chatbots for news also report higher usage rates. This relationship is more pronounced for AI than for social media, both at the market and individual level. People who trust AI chatbots are several times more likely to use them for news, while the trust-use connection is weaker for social platforms.
As publishers and advertisers adapt to these changes, some are already experimenting with AI-driven tools to better understand and engage their audiences. For example, India Today recently piloted an AI system to predict audience engagement before publishing, as reported in a recent coverage of their Audipulse initiative.
