Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the information environment and becoming a new front door through which the public access the news. This analysis reviews how four leading AI tools – ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews – respond to news queries.

Given the information emergency faced – with disinformation on the rise, record low trust in public institutions and low media literacy – the report finds it is essential that government incentivises robust information supply chains. This requires policies that make AI a more reliable interface for news and underpin the survival of quality journalism. 

Key findings

• AI draws on a narrow range of prominent news brands, with the single most-cited news source accounting for 34% of all journalistic sources in AI answers.
• The BBC was missing entirely from ChatGPT and Gemini. Other major news outlets also received limited exposure on ChatGPT.
• Murky rules mean AI tools pay for and prioritise some outlets, exploit other content for free, or exclude sources that block access.
• AI sourcing behaviour can change overnight, with significant implications for what information gets surfaced for users.
• AI is beginning to erode existing financial incentives to produce news.

Key recommendations

• Improved reliability and transparency of AI tools
• A licensing market that supports a plural news ecosystem
• The creation of sustainable new business models for news.