A.G. Sulzberger: AI, journalism and the uncertain future of the public square #marseille #wnmc26

📅 Jun 22, 2026 WAN-IFRA 39 MIN 474 VIEWS 2 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS

Delivering his opening keynote at WAN-IFRA’s World News Media Congress 2026 in Marseille, The New York Times Chairman and Publisher A.G. Sulzberger delivered a scathing assessment of how AI companies are “strip-mining” publishers’ sites and value. Read more: https://wan-ifra.org/2026/06/nyts-sul... About World News Media Congress 2026: https://wan-ifra-congress.com/2026/ #ai #aiinmedia #aiinnewsroom #publishers #aiplatforms #futureofmedia

What Arthur Sulzberger said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times, argued that AI companies are engaging in a 'brazen theft of intellectual property' by using news content without permission or compensation, which threatens the viability of original journalism. He cited that the six leading AI companies have a combined valuation of $11 trillion, while less than 0.5% of private AI investment goes to content creators. Sulzberger noted The New York Times' own legal actions against OpenAI, Microsoft, and Perplexity, which have cost over $20 million and lasted two and a half years. He warned of declining traffic and ad revenue, with newspapers losing 75% of journalists and over 3,000 papers closing. He urged news organizations to defend their rights, negotiate carefully, push for legislation, and collaborate with other creative industries, while also adopting AI responsibly and focusing on original reporting.

Key takeaways

The combined valuation of six leading AI companies is $11 trillion, yet less than 0.5% of private AI investment goes to content creators.
The New York Times' lawsuits against OpenAI, Microsoft, and Perplexity have cost over $20 million and lasted two and a half years.
US newspapers have lost 75% of journalists and over 3,000 papers, with one closing every three days.
AI-powered search sends 96% less traffic to news sites, and Google's AI answers make clicks 10 times harder.

Numbers and commitments

Figure	What it refers to	Type	At
$11 trillion	Combined valuation of six leading AI companies	metric	1:08
$20 million	Cost of New York Times lawsuits against AI companies	commitment	1:08
75%	Decline in US journalists	metric	1:08
3,000	Number of US newspapers lost	metric	1:08
96%	Reduction in traffic from competing AI models	metric	1:08
45%	Traffic drop for largest newspapers in last 4 years	metric	1:08
80%	Decline in newspaper ad revenue over two decades	metric	1:08
90%	Expected share of online content that is AI-generated	metric	1:08

Host 0:04 ↗

Now, I was thinking as I was just standing on the side a few minutes ago, if I started to list all of the reasons why we would want to hear from the publisher of The New York Times, I could be here from now till the same time tomorrow. It is an extraordinary business doing extraordinary things from its digital transformation, which of course we've all followed with great interest to the extraordinary rise and rise of its digital subscribers to its legal action on artificial intelligence, of course its extraordinary journalism, and also the extraordinary evolution of the product which it offers its consumers both in the US and around the world. For many, many reasons we are watching The New York Times very, very closely, which is why it's my huge pleasure to introduce our keynote speaker today on the first afternoon of WAN-IFRA, AG Sulzberger, the publisher of The New York Times.

1 more exchange in this transcript

Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX

APA

Sulzberger, A. (2026, June 22). A.G. Sulzberger: AI, journalism and the uncertain future of the public square #marseille #wnmc26 [Interview transcript]. WAN-IFRA. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1051757/

MLA

Arthur Sulzberger. "A.G. Sulzberger: AI, journalism and the uncertain future of the public square #marseille #wnmc26." WAN-IFRA, 22 Jun. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1051757/.

BibTeX

@misc{sulzberger2026_1051757,
  author       = {Arthur Sulzberger},
  title        = {A.G. Sulzberger: AI, journalism and the uncertain future of the public square #marseille #wnmc26},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, WAN-IFRA. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {jun},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1051757/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}

▶

Key Quotes (2)

“The companies driving AI, already among the richest and most powerful in human history, are consolidating their outsized control over our data and our attention. At the same time, they are failing to embrace a core responsibility that comes with this power, to ensure the public has access to trustworthy news and information. Their hijacking of the public square is made possible by the original sin”

▶ 2:50 CONTROVERSIAL POLICY

“The combined valuation of the six leading AI companies is $11 trillion, or more than three times the GDP of France. Private AI investment in the United States reached nearly $350 billion in 2025 and is accelerating in 2026. So, the theft of intellectual property is certainly not occurring for want of money to pay for it.”

▶ 10:59 POLICY

Mentioned in this interview

OpenAI None-OpenAI: Sued by The New York Times for copyright infringement; credited news in only 1% of responses.

Microsoft MSFT: Sued by The New York Times; head of AI monetization said open web model doesn't translate to AI-first world.

Perplexity: Sued by The New York Times; defied long-standing norms and suggested a White House statement was fabricated.

Anthropic None-Anthropic: Unwilling to pay for content, according to Sulzberger.

Google: AI answers make it 10 times harder to get a click; made major mistakes rewriting headlines.

Meta META: Trained on illegally pirated books; makes eight times more ad revenue than every newspaper combined.

Charlie Kirk: Assassination was misreported by Perplexity and Grok, showing AI unreliability.

Margaret Atwood: Likened AI's use of her work to being murdered by her replica.

Newsletters that week

The Speech We Have NeededThe Greater Quiet · Steve Brodner · Jun 23, 2026

More interviews with Arthur Sulzberger

Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. on Charlie Rose (11/27/2001) Part 2Aug 20, 2026 · ChenowethRules · 15 min
Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. on Charlie Rose (11/27/2001) Part 1Aug 20, 2026 · ChenowethRules · 15 min
A.G. Sulzberger, Publisher and Chairman of The New York Times: Mission Under PressureJan 16, 2026 · Stanford Graduate School of Business · 59 min
Part 1 | A Free People Need a Free Press | by A.G. Sulzberger, New York Times publisherMay 15, 2025 · OMARGLOBAL TV · 14 min

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About Arthur Sulzberger

Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., chairman of the board and publisher of The New York Times, appeared on Charlie Rose in a recorded interview from WOSU in Columbus. He discussed the company’s mission statement, which he said is to create, collect, and distribute high-quality news, information, and entertainment. Sulzberger stated that The New York Times is “agnostic as to methods of distribution,” adding that while he expects the print edition to remain available, the organization is not defined by the word “paper” in “newspaper.” He also cited his great-grandfather Adolph Ochs’s phrase that the paper is “first of all citizens of the world,” emphasizing the importance of foreign coverage. Sulzberger addressed the challenges facing the news industry at the time, noting that the company was experiencing its largest year-to-year advertising drop since 1938. He said that despite this difficulty, the organization’s purpose remained clear, particularly in covering monumental events such as the attacks on the nation. He described his role as one of empowering others by providing facts to readers, including the President and voters, rather than making decisions for them.

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