AI still getting news wrong, 700 pages of hype, hope, and headaches, and Google headline jacking.

Cookies are here to stay, clicks drop and subs pop, and the local news struggle continues - all in this week's Content Aware.

Published: 15:18, 23 October 2025

Corbidge comments on... affiliate theft
As pulishers affiliate revenues are being pillaged alongside their content, what favours do we owe the likes of Google and newcomer AI shopping tools any more? Our mysery shopper Rob has a look at the intentions of others in eyeing your affiliate revenue.
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Putting the AI in fail
A study led by the BBC and EBU shows that tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity still regularly get news badly wrong, regardless of language, platform, or country. Over 3,000 AI responses were tested, with the takeaway that misinformation is not a bug but a feature in AI handling of live news. With trust in news dwindling with each day, the EBU is calling on regulators to step in and keep the bots in check, so the mess can be fixed.
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700 pages of web and media trends
Compiling any media industry reports in the next few months? Simon Kemp's Digital 2026 Global Overview Report is out, brought by Meltwater and We Are Social. If you want a 101 guide on all things internet adoption, social media, and AI, look no further. In case you're more interested in a few interesting takeaway, our friendly neighbourhood consultant Mark Gilbert has your back.
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D'Oh!-penAI
It is very handy to be able to use tools such as ChatGPT to speed up productivity, but is it always the right choice? Early research at MIT suggests that while people are using such they are likely lowering brain activity linked to focus, creativity, and memory: when we let AI take the wheel, the brain takes a backseat. So before outsourcing all your thinking, it's good to remember that mental shortcuts come with a cost.
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Clicks decline but subs shine
AOP and Deloitte brought some sunshine into the publishing world, revealing that Q2 2025 brought in a 3.43% revenue bump year-on-year, hitting £165.4 million. The shinning star are subscriptions and digital audio, while display ads continue their slow decline. However, it's important to note that just only over a half saw growth, and with everyone introducing new products and acquisitions, and also cutting costs where they can, it's clear that the publishing game is changing day to day.
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Local news can't catch a break
It's been a hard year for local news, as the US lost another 136 newspapers this year, and the small, independent outlets took the biggest hit. Now it's less than 1,000 dailies, where most don't print daily anymore and the usual suspects are to blame, rising costs, succession gaps, and shrinking federal support. There are some signs of hope still present, such as over 300 startups in recent years (albeit most of them are in the cities, not rural areas), but there is no denying that local news is on life support in many places.
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The headline takeover
Google is bringing us another gem, this time in the form of rewriting of headlines. Harry Clarkson-Bennett is discussing how the AI giant tweaks titles to fit his needs and ideas while the editors are left standing on the sidelines and watching their carefully crafted, witty headlines get a not-needed-at-all makeover.
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Pay up or get sued
News Corp boss Robert Thompson is going all out and calling out AI firms for splurging billions on servers and chips, while just throwing around peanuts when it comes to the content that fuels them. His message is very clear, either pay or get your lawyer ready, and considering his warning comes after a pile of copyright battles, AI firms might just learn that cutting corners may cost them.
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A helping hand
Looking to include AI data analysis into your editorial workflows? Well, look no further, because we've got you covered with a little help of Marfeel, Spanish pioneers whose content analytics platform built specifically for publishers is helping editorial and audience teams focus on creating compelling stories. Their AI-powered integration is a great addition to our headless, publisher-specific CMS who provides publishing workflows while Marfeel Copilot handles context and allows editors to test and explore new ideas before the go-live.
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Memory hacks
According to recent research from JNeurosci lab, our brains play favourites. It turns out that the way we hear stories, whether it paints a vivid picture or it brings us tears, can decide how we later remember those stories, older folks lean more into the feels (conceptual) while young adults are more interested in the visuals (perceptual). So if you want people to remember your stories, pay attention to your audience.
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Cookies stay, sandbox goes
After six years, the plan to kill third-party cookies has been left in the dust by Google, it simply couldn't handle the weight of bureaucracy and industry apathy. The combination of low adoption, sceptical advertisers, and regulators breathing down Google's neck made sure that the Privacy Sandbox dies, the ad world just shrugged and continued with cookies. The web's ad machine keeps on rolling.
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The war on deepfakes
With all the AI slop everywhere, YouTube is offering a lifeboat. Google has started rolling out its likeness detection tool which helps spotting AI videos with "stolen" faces, kind of like copyright detection but for identities. But there is a catch, as always, you'll need to hand over a government ID and a selfie video for access. Don't expect too much from it though, there is no guarantee that the video will be taken down if it just looks like you, parodies and fair use content might keep their head above the water too.
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A shiny new browser
With Atlas, their AI browser, OpenAI has finally decided to join the browser game. Live on macOS, with Windows and Mobile coming soon, it's basically a browser with ChatGPT built in ChatGPT, you can talk to it, start shopping, clean up your emails and so on. If you're a Plus, Pro, or Business user, then you get an agent baked in. The browser will import your history, read what's on the screen, and hop after you from site to site. Are we getting a different, helpful browser, or just switching from one spyware to another? Time will tell.
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