This was the year AI went from being a future concern for publishers to being part of their daily reality. In 2025, generative AI was weaved into traffic analyses, licensing negotiations and product development.
Clicks from search waned. AI answers increasingly replaced blue links that drive people to publishers’ sites. Some companies struck AI content licensing deals, while others blocked AI crawlers, pursued lawsuits or shipped AI-powered products of their own.
Here are some of the moments that defined how publishers adapted to the AI era this year.
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