AI Chatbots See Slow Adoption for News Consumption

The latest Digital News Report by Reuters Institute published Tuesday shows that in a 45-country sample, only 10 percent of people use AI chatbots to consume news. Shares reached as high as 14 percent in South Korea and Turkey and 13 percent in Brazil. Countries where the fewest people engaged in the practice were the United Kingdom at 4 percent and Germany as well as Hungary, Croatia, Denmark, Finland and France at 5 percent. The United States, home to many of the world's most prolific chatbot creators, only saw use for news standing at 6 percent in 2026.

Since 2025, when the question was first asked in the Reuters report, chatbot news consumption worldwide rose from 7 percent. The report also states that news consumers are already able to encounter AI in online news. Public broadcasters in Germany and the United Kingdom recently started using the technology to generate article summaries. At the same time, newsrooms are experimenting with automation of processes in Colombia, Sweden and Mexico. In the latter country, for example, AI is helping journalists with lists and summaries of archived articles for follow-up coverage and story ideas at newspaper El Economista. In the Philippines, a fact-checking tool was launched by an organization specializing in the subject. In Nigeria, a transcription and translation tool versed in local languages was developed. While some experimentation with AI-created content was also reported, the report highlights AI's strengths for internal and research purposes rather than audience-facing production.