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Google’s AI New Feature Creates Fear in News Websites, Crashing Website Traffic

Google

Business Honor
12 June, 2025

Press executives warn Google's AI reduces website traffic, affecting the journalist's power to earn money.

Prominent press executives have expressed their fears about Google's growing use of AI. It has reduced the number of people who browse news websites and is also affecting the journalist's power to earn money.

Many websites have reported a major drop in Google traffic from referrals, according to a recently posted article by “The Wall Street Journal.” This is due to Google's artificial intelligence features, such as its chatbot and AI Summary, answering user requests. News publications are finding it challenging to attract viewers and earn money from their own websites as a result of this change.

The change from a search engine to an "answer engine" is considered an important turning point by Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic. Thompson added media firms will have to rethink how they operate online due to this simple change. The impact of the change can be seen by the report from analytics firm Similarweb.

According to the report, HuffPost's traffic over the past three years has dropped to half. The Washington Post reported a similar decline. Due to a decrease of 55% in the publication's traffic, the company had to fire 21% of its staff. The New York Times, an important news website, has also suffered a decrease in its percentage of Google search traffic from nearly forty percent in 2022 to 36.5% in April 2025.

William Lewis, CEO of The Washington Post, stated that "the rise of click-free search is a serious threat to journalism." Not just news websites are affected by this change. Product review pages, health websites, and travel guides are also seeing a drop in viewers. Web publishers fear problems may get worse as Google plans to introduce an even more advanced "AI Mode."