Generative artificial intelligence assistants like ChatGPT are cutting into traditional online search traffic, depriving news sites of visitors and impacting the advertising revenue they desperately need, in a crushing blow to an industry already fighting for survival.

¡°The next three or four years will be incredibly challenging for publishers everywhere. No one is immune from the AI summaries storm gathering on the horizon,¡± warned Matt Karolian, vice president of research and development at Boston Globe Media.

¡°Publishers need to build their own shelters or risk being swept away.¡±