Welcome to another episode of The Toolkits Show, a podcast making sense of the major themes, trends, and developments shaping the business of content.
It’s been a week since Google launched AI Overviews. Accuracy issues are already cropping up, with search results producing misleading or false information, such as exhorting users to eat glue or rocks. AI Overviews are (in a minority of cases) displaying conspiracy theories, citing dubious sources, or simply getting facts wrong. Being able to “trick” AI into giving up false information doesn’t make the feature any less useful, though, and linking to dubious or inaccurate information isn’t anything new for Google. What’s not clear at this point however is if users even want AI-generated content in their search results, or if tech companies are forcing it on them before it’s ready for prime time.
Bigger issues may lie in how AI Overviews cite the sources they glean information from. Publishers and other content creators are already noticing that AI Overviews don’t necessarily always give credit to the right places, or even fail to source at all, bringing up thorny issues around plagiarism and attribution. Still, recognizable brands and premium publishers may find that having their content discovered or surfaced via AI overviews is good for business. For other entities focused on attracting clicks or traffic, this may not be the case.
Also in this week’s episode:
- Publishers double down on subscriptions. Major publishers say they’re stepping up their focus on subscriptions as a core revenue driver, as advertising and commerce become more challenging. Subscription revenue will be crucial for maintaining sustainable media businesses in a shifting landscape, they say.
- Brands express frustration with Apple News. Eager to figure out more distribution channels, brands are closely inspecting Apple News as a possible partner. But gaining admission is difficult: Brands like McKinsey are available on Apple News, but other marketers report being turned away. Apple historically has been very focused on user experience, and observers say this is a case of “quality control.”