AI chatbots become a small but growing news gateway

Weekly use of AI chatbots for news rose from 7% to 10% globally since last year, though only 1% say AI is their main source of news. Uptake skews younger, with 17% of the youngest age group using chatbots for news compared with 5% of the oldest group, and it is higher among news lovers and politically engaged audiences. Trust remains a barrier: 20% globally trust news from AI chatbots, while 44% of chatbot users do.

Across 45 markets, the dominant use is asking follow-up questions, cited by 42% of users. Other common uses include getting the latest news (35%), summarising news (34%), making news easier to understand (30%), and assessing source reliability (33%). Motivations are led by wanting more depth or explanation (42%) and speed (39%), with many also using chatbots to process complex or translated information.

Referral implications remain uncertain but important for publishers. Across 27 markets, just 4% of respondents said they always or often click through to original sources from AI, compared with 19% from search and 17% from social media, partly reflecting that chatbot news use remains niche. Users who do click through from AI are less driven by wanting more detail and more likely to verify information or understand its source, underscoring the value of distinctive reporting and provenance as chatbots become embedded in search and other platforms.