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ONE BIG THING
When the bots buy the media 🤖
Did OpenAI just turn AI into the media?
TL;DR:
OpenAI recently purchased TPBN. And it may complicate things.
Companies aren’t just creating content; they’re buying distribution.
Earned media loses leverage, and the media landscape gets diluted (and less neutral).
AI + owned media raises real questions about visibility and bias.
If you haven’t heard, OpenAI purchased TPBN (Technology Business Programming Network) earlier this month. And that’s gotten our brains all in a twist because this is no small purchase—and we don’t mean the price tag. It could have some big implications.
More and more companies are skipping the middleman and buying media properties outright. Because why pitch stories and be at the mercy of journalists, algorithms, and whatever mood the social platforms are in that day, when you can just own the channel? 😇
💡Control the platform, and you control the narrative
Easy! But here’s where things start to feel a little off: as brands build (or buy) their own media, earned media starts to lose its footing. What used to be a mix of neutral outlets basically turns into brand-owned corporate mouthpieces. And the more that happens, the blurrier the line gets between reporting and positioning.
Now add AI to the mix, and it’s even messier. Because if an AI company owns a media outlet, one would have to wonder (and, maybe we’re pessimistic 🤷♀️, but let’s face it…assume):
🚩Does that outlet’s content get surfaced more often?
🚩Ranked higher?
🚩Treated as more “trustworthy” by the model?
And then we really start feeling like that Always Sunny meme with the red string all over the wall 🫠
Because what about the legal side of things? OpenAI is currently in court with publishers over content access and fair use while buying its own media source (🚩🚩🚩 much?).
It's a pretty clear strategy: If licensing content is messy, expensive, or restricted, just own the source.
This move tells you exactly where the value is shifting: not just in what content says, but in who controls how it’s distributed, surfaced, and ultimately trusted.
If that’s the game, the question isn’t whether brands will follow…really, it’s how fast.
Some things we’re mulling over:
OpenAI didn’t just buy a media property with TPBN—they bought a room full of influential tech voices. They’re basically the new water cooler.
As deals like this continue and more big media properties are purchased, we’re going to have to second-guess the information we see even more than we already do. Cool cool cool 🫠
If a tech giant owns a media company that reports on tech, is the audience getting objective information? Or just artfully crafted corporate bot (no pun intended) crap?
Honestly?
THE PULSE
Who's going where and why it matters. Not just job shifts, but power dynamics, layoffs, and who's headed out.
🤔 The AP is offering buyouts to an undisclosed number of its U.S. journalists as part of its move away from newspapers and print journalism.
🧳 James Bricknell is the new Managing Editor at CNET, covering Commerce
🤔 Joanna Stern, formerly of The Wall Street Journal, gave an interview about how AI told her to quit the paper
🧳 Kyle Kucharski has moved to ZDNET as a Senior Editor, focusing on breaking tech news, product reviews, and features
🧳 Stephen Council and Rya Jetha joined the Business Insider tech team to cover AI and robotics (we’ll be watching their takes on this news closely!)
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