Publishers Shift Strategy in AI Era

Japanese online publishing platform Note is embracing artificial intelligence (AI) to manage its operations and adapt to the evolving digital landscape. At a media study session in Tokyo, CEO Sadaki Kato and Chief Strategy Officer Takayuki Fukatsu discussed how generative AI is reshaping information distribution and the challenges companies face in protecting and promoting their content.

The executives emphasized that content inaccessible to AI is essentially invisible to AI, potentially causing businesses to lose traffic. They highlighted the need for companies to consider whether data should be closed or made accessible, including the role of paywalls. Kato and Fukatsu stressed the importance of developing industry-wide best practices instead of leaving individual companies to navigate these issues independently.

A significant shift is occurring from traditional search engine optimization (SEO) to a new approach called AIO (AI-optimized), GEO, or LLMO (large language model optimization). As people increasingly ask AI systems questions instead of using conventional search engines, companies may compete for inclusion in AI-generated answers rather than aiming for the top search rankings.

For instance, if an AI consistently recommends only Company A's laundry detergent for a given query, rival companies B, C, and D could suffer significant competitive disadvantages.

The executives warned against attempting to manipulate AI recommendations through deceptive tactics, noting that such attempts are likely to fail. They cited a form of LLMO manipulation in which websites hide instructions for AI systems in invisible text, attempting to artificially boost their rankings. However, such techniques are considered "extremely foolish" by Fukatsu, as AI models can reason about content and detect misleading attempts to deceive them.

The challenge for media companies is particularly complicated, as allowing unrestricted AI access to their content could undermine revenue streams from paid material. Note, which hosts about 80 million pieces of content, with roughly 20% behind paywalls, is exploring ways to strike a balance. The company aims to enable AI to recognize and understand paid content without using it for unrestricted model training, while still providing enough information to pique users' interest without revealing the full substance of the paid material.

Note is actively experimenting with integrating AI into its internal operations. The company transcribes all management meetings and uses AI to review these discussions, effectively employing AI as an "exceptionally intelligent outside director" that continually evaluates senior executives. Additionally, Note is feeding a wide range of corporate data into AI systems to identify new developments, detect anomalies, flag risks, and suggest areas for management attention.

The executives liken this to having an AI system constantly reviewing the company and prompting necessary action.