Axios House: The one thing AI can't make – something real

CANNES, France — AI is rewriting the rules of media faster than anyone can keep up, media and brand leaders said at Axios House at Cannes.

Why it matters: AI is flooding the world with generated content, which makes real reporting, real outcomes and real personalities more valuable, not less, panelists said.

• "If there isn't a sustainable business model for high-quality independent journalism and other creative work, there won't be anything … to move through the LLMs," said Meredith Kopit Levien, president and CEO of The New York Times Company.

Axios' Sara Fischer and Kerry Flynn moderated discussions with Levien, Alison Levin, president of advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, and Rachel Zoe, entrepreneur and TV personality. The June 22 event was sponsored by Omnicom Public Relations.

Zoom out: The New York Times has spent roughly $20 million on AI-related legal fees in 2½ years and is still in active suits against OpenAI and Microsoft as well as Perplexity.

• "The stakes are really, really high here. These companies that make the LLMs have taken our work, they've used it without our permission," Levien said.

Between the lines: On brand building in an AI-saturated world, Zoe said consistency, not strategy, has been her edge.

• "I mean everything that I say," said Zoe, crediting a singular mission as the reason her audience has stayed.
• Levin pointed to live sports and unscripted TV as proof that shared, real-time moments still break through: "It's so real," she said of what drives fandom. "The failures, the upside. It's a story."

Content from the sponsor's segment:

In a View from the Top conversation, Omnicom Public Relations CEO Chris Foster said AI-generated content "still needs humans" to "provide the relevance and context."

• "It's timing, it's the nuance, and it's the subtleties that make the creative work relevant and emotional," Foster said.