AI, digital strategy and emerging revenue models for news

Journalism and media, more broadly, have been reshaped by technology. Furthermore, the upheaval in how stories are created, consumed and distributed is still in its infancy. New tools like artificial intelligence (AI) (specifically both natural language generation/processing and machine learning), augmented reality, distributed ledgers and the ever smaller and more powerful computing devices will continue to revolutionize media. Information consumers are only beginning to notice the sweeping changes in when/where they can consume information, how they can pay and who can charge for it. This chapter highlights as a milestone the 2018 development of a new generation of paywall digital technology at The Wall Street Journal as a marker in the development of digital news strategy. The transition in digital strategies and the employment of new techniques will shift who can be a reporter and how many reporters/editors a publication needs. It should also offer more transparency about the source's information, authorship/credibility and modifications to articles. Journalists will see changes in the way potential stories are identified, the form and shape of articles and even the journalist's professional status, which may include digital or personal branding. The evolutions in technology do not dictate the direction that journalism will take but instead necessitate change in strategy and production. Whether or not journalists work to direct the evolution, technology-driven change is inevitable and drastic.