Revitalizing Local News in the AI Era

Revitalizing Local News in the Era of Artificial Intelligence

As AI adoption grows in the local news sector, journalists and industry leaders continue to explore ways to use AI to serve their communities and where ethical lines should be drawn.

But AI is also bringing many negative changes, raising the need for public policies to ensure communities have access to high-quality news and information. Rebuild Local News’ focus is on how AI affects the economic sustainability of local news. We see several areas of concern:

- Lack of fair compensation: AI models train on local news without compensating the news outlets that paid to produce the work.
- Drawing away audiences and undermining revenue models: AI agents and summaries that use and reproduce local journalism draw audiences away from the news outlets and journalists who produced the original work, undermining the ability for outlets to gain subscribers, donors or ad dollars.
- Information pollution: AI-powered entities frequently produce inaccurate or fabricated content, creating confusion about what’s real and what’s fake news. The effect will worsen if AI agents cause local news providers to stop producing original information.
- Inequitable bargaining power: Many larger media outlets have struck licensing deals or other commercial arrangements with AI companies, while small and midsized local news outlets – often the only news providers in their communities – have not.

Rebuild Local News President Steve Waldman Testifies Before The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

On Feb. 10, 2026, Rebuild Local News President Steven Waldman urged Congress in his Senate testimony to adopt policies that increase the number of local reporters and ensure tech platforms compensate small and independent outlets.