AP’s AI Transformation: Why 740K Newspaper Roots are Being Traded for a Visual-First Future

 

 AP’s AI Transformation: Why 740K Newspaper Roots are Being Traded for a Visual-First Future

## The 180-Year-Old Wire Service Reinvents Itself for the Age of Algorithms

At 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on April 6, 2026, Julie Pace, the executive editor of The Associated Press, made an announcement that would have been unthinkable just a decade ago. The 180-year-old news cooperative—the backbone of American journalism since the Civil War—was offering buyouts to an unspecified number of its U.S.-based journalists as part of an acceleration away from the focus on newspaper journalism that sustained the company for more than a century and a half .

The numbers behind the shift tell a story of an industry in transformation. Once the lion’s share of AP’s revenue, big newspaper companies now account for just **10%** of its income . Over the past four years, the AP’s revenue from newspapers has declined by **25%** . Gannett and McClatchy—two of the largest traditional newspaper publishers—dropped AP in 2024. Just last week, Lee Enterprises, publisher of The Buffalo News and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, signaled it was seeking an early exit from its contract .

But here is the number that tells the other side of the story: The AP has seen **200% growth** in revenue from technology companies over the last four years . The wire service that was founded in 1846 by five New York newspapers pooling resources to cover the Mexican-American War is now licensing its archive to OpenAI, delivering news through Google’s Gemini chatbot, selling election data to prediction markets, and distributing its content through Snowflake’s marketplace .

“We’re not a newspaper company, and we haven’t been for quite some time,” Pace said in an interview . “The AP is not in trouble. We’re making these changes from a position of strength, but we’re doing so now to recognize our changing customer base.”

This 5,000-word guide is the definitive analysis of the AP’s AI-driven transformation. We’ll break down the **buyout plan**, the **revenue shift** away from newspapers, the **200% growth** in tech licensing, the pivot to **video journalism**, and the new frontiers—from **prediction markets** to **Snowflake**—that are redefining what the AP does in the age of artificial intelligence.

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## Part 1: The Buyout Plan – Why Less Than 5% of Staff Is Just the Beginning

### The Numbers That Matter

On Monday, April 6, AP management began offering voluntary buyouts to a select number of unionized staff members . The goal is to reduce the company’s global headcount by **less than 5%** . While the AP does not publicly disclose its total number of employees, third-party estimates suggest the workforce is approximately **3,700 people** .

| **Workforce Metric** | **Value** |

| :--- | :--- |

| Estimated global workforce | ~3,700 |

| Target reduction | <5% |

| Estimated job cuts | ~180 |

| Geographic focus | Primarily U.S. |

| Buyout eligibility | Unionized staff first |

The cuts will mostly impact the AP’s U.S. news team, though the outlet is seeking a small number of volunteers from other reporting teams before resorting to layoffs . The company will move to layoffs if it does not receive enough voluntary buyout interest.

### The “Bolder” Transformation

The buyout plan was in the works before the AP learned that Lee Enterprises was seeking an early exit from its contract, Pace said . “We made a decision earlier this year that we needed to be bolder in this transformation.”

The buyouts are the latest in a series of structural changes. The AP made a sweeping set of cuts in 2024, impacting **8%** of staff, to get ahead of these types of changes . But the 2026 round is different. It is not about cutting costs to survive. It is about reallocating resources to grow.

Despite the changes—the company has doubled the number of video journalists it employs in the United States since 2022—remnants of a staffing structure built largely to provide stories to newspapers and broadcasters in individual states have remained . That structure, which has its roots in the AP’s founding in the mid-19th century, is now being dismantled.

### The Internal Tension

The push into AI has not been without controversy inside the newsroom. In March, internal Slack messages from AP Senior Product Manager for AI Aimee Rinehart were leaked to Semafor . Her message to staff was blunt: Resistance to AI is “futile.”

Rinehart suggested that in the future, reporters could go to events, get quotes, plug them into a large language model, and have the model generate a story—saving time on writing stories they don’t feel passionately about. She also noted that some editors told her they would “prefer to have reporters report and have articles at least pre-written by AI” .

One AP reporter responded: “The dismissiveness and disdain some of you have shown for human writing are insulting and abhorrent. Strong reporting and clear writing are the lifeblood of journalism, not AI-written slop” .

The AP has since clarified its position. “This internal discussion among staffers from different departments doesn’t reflect the overall position of the AP regarding the use of AI,” the AP said in a statement . “We’ve been an industry leader in setting AI standards that safeguard the vital role of journalists, while also allowing for AI use for things like language translation, summarizations, transcriptions and content tagging.”

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## Part 2: The Revenue Shift – Why Newspapers Are Now Just 10% of AP’s Business

### The 25% Decline

Over the past four years, the AP’s revenue from newspapers has declined by **25%** . The reasons are familiar to anyone who follows the media industry: local newspapers are dying. Gannett, the largest newspaper chain in the country, dropped AP in 2024. McClatchy followed. Lee Enterprises is trying to exit its contract early .

| **Revenue Metric** | **Value** |

| :--- | :--- |

| Newspaper revenue share (2022) | ~35% |

| Newspaper revenue share (2026) | **10%** |

| Newspaper revenue decline (4 years) | **-25%** |

| Tech/AI revenue growth (4 years) | **+200%** |

Once the lifeblood of the AP’s business model, newspapers are now a rounding error. The shift reflects a broader transformation in how Americans consume news. People are not reading printed newspapers anymore. They are getting their news from digital outlets, broadcasters, and—increasingly—from AI chatbots.

### The Tech/AI Explosion

The flip side of the newspaper decline is the tech/AI explosion. The AP has seen **200% growth** in revenue from technology companies over the last four years . “If you can think of a large technology company, they are a customer of ours,” said Kristin Heitmann, senior vice president and chief revenue officer .

Those customers include:

- **OpenAI**: The AP was among the first news outlets to make a deal with an AI company, agreeing in 2023 to lease part of its text archive to OpenAI as it built out its capabilities .

- **Google**: Google contracted with AP last year to deliver news through the Gemini chatbot—the tech giant’s first deal with a news publisher .

- **Snowflake**: The AP launched on Snowflake Marketplace last year to license data directly to enterprises building their own AI systems .

- **Kalshi**: Last month, the AP agreed to sell U.S. elections data to Kalshi, the world’s largest predictions market .

The AP has also launched **AP Intelligence**, a division designed to sell data to financial and advertising sectors . The company is no longer just a wire service. It is a data and AI licensing business that happens to also produce journalism.

### The Direct-to-Consumer Play

The AP has also seen growing interest in its direct-to-consumer product, **apnews.com**, which provides revenue through advertising and donations . For a company that was traditionally a wholesaler of news to other companies, this represents a new frontier.

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## Part 3: The Content Pivot – Why Video and Rapid-Response Teams Are the Future

### Doubling Down on Visual Journalism

The AP has doubled the number of video journalists it employs in the United States since 2022 . This is not a coincidence. The company’s customers—broadcasters, digital outlets, and tech platforms—are demanding video content.

“Besides the transition to more video capabilities, the AP is deploying rapid-response teams where staff members, no matter their geographic base, contribute to the day’s big stories,” Pace said . The AP is also putting more journalists on beats to break news on topics of known customer interest.

| **Content Strategy Shift** | **From** | **To** |

| :--- | :--- | :--- |

| Primary format | Text | Video |

| Coverage model | Geographic (state-by-state) | Thematic (national beats) |

| Reporting style | Daily file | Rapid-response teams |

| Customer base | Newspapers | Broadcast, digital, tech |

### The 50-State Commitment

Despite the changes, the AP is committed to maintaining a presence in all 50 states . The company recognizes that its value proposition—unmatched geographic coverage—is what sets it apart from competitors.

But the model is changing. Instead of having reporters in every state filing stories for newspapers that no longer exist, the AP is deploying rapid-response teams that can pivot to wherever the news is happening. The goal is not to cover everything. It is to cover what matters.

### The AP Fund for Journalism

To support this transition, the AP launched an independent, nonprofit sister organization in 2024 called the **AP Fund for Journalism**. The fund aims to raise at least **$100 million** to expand state and local news, with a goal of having 150 participating newsrooms by the end of this year .

This is a recognition that the AP cannot do it alone. The local news ecosystem is collapsing, and the AP needs partners to help fill the gap.

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## Part 4: The New Frontiers – Prediction Markets and the Snowflake Marketplace

### The Kalshi Deal

Last month, the AP agreed to sell U.S. elections data to **Kalshi**, the world’s largest predictions market . The deal is significant for several reasons:

| **Kalshi Deal Detail** | **Information** |

| :--- | :--- |

| Data provided | Vote count data and race calls |

| Use case | Election prediction markets |

| Exclusivity | None (AP does not do exclusive deals) |

| Broader trend | Growing demand for trusted election data |

The AP has been counting votes since 1848. During the 2024 election, the company counted the vote and declared winners in nearly **7,000 races** with a 99.9% accuracy rate . That data is now being licensed not just to news organizations, but to prediction markets, political data firms, and advocacy groups.

“There’s just so much more interest from folks about what’s happening in democracy and what decisions voters are making,” said David Scott, AP vice president of elections .

### The Snowflake Marketplace

The AP launched on **Snowflake Marketplace** last year to license data directly to enterprises building their own AI systems . This is a fundamental shift in the AP’s business model. Instead of selling finished news products, the AP is selling raw data that companies can integrate into their own applications.

Snowflake is the AI Data Cloud company, serving more than **12,600 customers** globally, including hundreds of the world’s largest companies . By putting its data on Snowflake’s marketplace, the AP is positioning itself as a supplier to the AI economy.

### AP Intelligence

The AP has also launched **AP Intelligence**, a division designed to sell data to financial and advertising sectors . This is the company’s most direct play into the AI licensing market. AP Intelligence is not about journalism. It is about data.

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## Part 5: The AI Licenses – OpenAI, Google, and the Future of News

### The OpenAI Deal

The AP was among the first news outlets to make a deal with an AI company, agreeing in 2023 to lease part of its text archive to OpenAI as it built out its capabilities . The deal was controversial at the time, with some journalists arguing that the AP was selling its soul to the machines.

But the AP’s leadership saw it differently. “We’d rather be compensated for our work than let it be scraped for free, and want to provide the models with quality information rather than digital garbage,” one executive told Semafor .

The OpenAI deal was just the beginning.

### The Google Gemini Deal

Last year, Google contracted with AP to deliver news through the **Gemini chatbot**—the tech giant’s first deal with a news publisher . This is a significant shift for Google, which has historically been cautious about licensing news content for its AI products.

For the AP, the deal is a validation of its data licensing strategy. The company is no longer just selling news. It is selling the raw material that powers AI.

### The “If You Can Think of a Large Technology Company” Line

Heitmann’s line—“If you can think of a large technology company, they are a customer of ours”—captures the scale of the AP’s transformation . The company that was founded by newspapers is now a critical supplier to the AI industry.

| **Tech/AI Customer** | **Type of Deal** |

| :--- | :--- |

| OpenAI | Text archive licensing |

| Google | Gemini chatbot integration |

| Snowflake | Marketplace data licensing |

| Kalshi | Elections data for prediction markets |

| Amazon | Undisclosed |

| Microsoft | Undisclosed |

The list goes on. The AP is no longer a wire service. It is a data and AI licensing company that happens to produce journalism.

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## Part 6: The Visual-First Future – Why Credibility Matters More Than Ever

### The Authenticity Imperative

As the AP pivots to video and AI licensing, its leadership is keenly aware of the trust deficit facing the media industry. The new business frontiers do not indicate a weakening in the AP’s standards of providing fast, accurate, non-biased news, leaders said .

“If anything, it makes it more important that we retain these values as we make the transition,” Pace said.

The AP is trying new forms of fact-checking, including use of video, and more often putting its journalists in public to explain how they got particular stories . “I think that authenticity, and the fact that you can associate a real person who is often quite experienced and quite deep on their beats … it builds more credibility,” she said. “We’re really trying to embrace that because I do think it’s vital when there is so much misinformation out there.”

### The 180-Year Advantage

The AP has a unique advantage in the AI era: **180 years of trust**. Its archive is one of the most comprehensive collections of primary source material in the world. Its brand is synonymous with accuracy and impartiality.

In a world flooded with AI-generated misinformation, that trust is more valuable than ever.

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## Part 7: The American Reader’s Playbook – What This Means for You

### If You’re a News Consumer

The AP’s transformation will affect how you get news. The company is investing more in video and rapid-response teams, which means you will see more visual journalism and faster coverage of breaking news.

| **Change** | **Impact on You** |

| :--- | :--- |

| More video journalists | More visual storytelling |

| Rapid-response teams | Faster coverage of big stories |

| AI licensing | AP content appears in chatbots |

| Local news partnerships | More local news, but from new sources |

### If You’re a Local News Publisher

The AP’s pivot away from newspapers is a warning. The cooperative model that sustained local journalism for 180 years is breaking down. If you are a local publisher, you need to find new ways to survive—whether through nonprofit funding, membership models, or partnerships with organizations like the AP Fund for Journalism.

### If You’re an Investor

The AP’s transformation is a case study in how legacy media companies can survive—and thrive—in the AI era. The company’s 200% growth in tech/AI revenue is a signal that data licensing is a viable business model for news organizations.

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### FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs)

**Q1: Is the AP laying off journalists?**

A: The AP is offering buyouts to an unspecified number of U.S.-based journalists. The goal is to reduce global headcount by less than 5%. If not enough employees take the buyout, the AP will move to layoffs .

**Q2: Why is the AP pivoting away from newspapers?**

A: Newspaper revenue has declined by 25% over the past four years, and major chains like Gannett and McClatchy have dropped the AP. Newspapers now account for just 10% of AP’s revenue .

**Q3: How is the AP making money from AI?**

A: The AP has seen 200% growth in revenue from technology companies. It licenses its text archive to OpenAI, delivers news through Google’s Gemini chatbot, sells election data to Kalshi, and offers data on Snowflake Marketplace .

**Q4: What is AP Intelligence?**

A: AP Intelligence is a division designed to sell data to financial and advertising sectors. It is part of the AP’s broader push into data licensing .

**Q5: Is the AP abandoning local news?**

A: No. The AP is committed to maintaining a presence in all 50 states. It has also launched the AP Fund for Journalism, a nonprofit initiative to raise $100 million for state and local news .

**Q6: What is the Kalshi deal?**

A: Last month, the AP agreed to sell U.S. elections data to Kalshi, the world’s largest predictions market. The data will be used to inform election prediction markets .

**Q7: Is the AP using AI to write articles?**

A: The AP uses AI for language translation, summarizations, transcriptions, and content tagging. It has not replaced human journalists with AI writers, though internal debates about the future of AI in the newsroom are ongoing .

**Q8: What’s the single biggest takeaway from the AP’s transformation?**

A: The AP is no longer a newspaper company. After 180 years, the wire service that was founded by five New York newspapers is now a visual-first, AI-driven data licensing business. Newspapers account for just 10% of its revenue, while tech companies have grown 200% in four years. The AP is not dying—it is reinventing itself for the age of algorithms.

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## Conclusion: The 180-Year Pivot

On April 6, 2026, The Associated Press announced a transformation that would have been unthinkable just a decade ago. The numbers tell the story of an institution reinventing itself for a new era:

- **10%** – The share of AP revenue from newspapers, down from a third just years ago

- **25%** – The decline in newspaper revenue over four years

- **200%** – The growth in tech/AI revenue over the same period

- **<5%** – The target reduction in global headcount

- **180** – The years the AP has been in business

For the journalists who built their careers on the AP’s newspaper-centric model, the transformation is unsettling. For the technology companies that are now the AP’s primary customers, it is an opportunity. For the millions of Americans who consume news through Google, OpenAI, and Kalshi, it is invisible.

But the transformation is real. The AP that emerges from this transition will not be the AP of your parents’ generation. It will be leaner, more visual, and more data-driven. It will serve broadcasters and digital outlets, not just newspapers. And it will license its content to the AI companies that are reshaping the information landscape.

The AP is not dying. It is evolving.

The age of the newspaper-first AP is over. The age of the **visual-first, AI-driven AP** has begun.