Axios: What’s next for Axios

Posted on October 27, 2026 by michelleclarke2015
What’s next for Axios
 
Animated illustration of the Axios logo, with a thought balloon with another Axios logo popping out of it, and the sequence loops.
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
 
Axios CEO Jim VandeHei lays out his latest thinking on how media is changing — and how Axios is adapting:

Media is changing at AI speed: the open web deteriorating, search shriveling, LLMs rising, hyper-personalization surging, old revenue models breaking.

AI threatens to finish what the algorithms started: wholly upending journalism as we know it. The only certainty: What follows will be as different as the pre- and post-digital eras.

After studying and experimenting with AI for the past two years, we’re placing a series of big bets on how serious journalism can flourish in an AI world

💡 The big idea: We believe the value of verified, reported, distinctive truth and curated human connection will spike. The yearning for human connection, and demand for human expertise, will only increase

🖼️ The big picture: At Axios, we’re doing what we did a decade ago when we launched, and two decades ago at Politico: building for the direction that technology and the world are headed.

We’re sharing our thesis — and our plans — to help spark deeper industrywide debate about preserving the best of media in what’s to come. Some parts are controversial or based on our own assumptions. We welcome the pushback.

What’s next: We assume Einstein-level intelligence will be available on all topics to all people. We envision media consumption shifting to new AI platforms and devices that know us as intimately as we know ourselves. Our lives and minds will be curated beyond imagination. Our knowledge, habits, tastes and work will fully fuse into our screens, or pins, or bracelets.

The biggest threat in this coming reality: Who needs “news” from journalists when their AI tells them what they need to know, when they want to know it?

Indeed, we assume passive news consumers will find AI curation fully satiating, much like they did scrolling. So general, indistinctive news withers.But for serious news consumers — those who routinely seek out high-quality information about their world, passions and community — the demand for human-vetted and human-verified content will surge.This holds true for both the consumer and for businesses: They’ll need insight beyond what everyone else gets from the machines alone, as well as verified news — and human audiences. They’ll demand more than AI can give them.🔎 What this looks like for AxiosHarnessing AI to save local journalism and serve communities. Adding to the power of the 100+ Axios Local journalists coast to coast, we’ll soon unveil an Axios Local “Super System” that uses AI to track government action, community data and coming events. This will give local reporters more time for local reporting. We hope the Super System will allow us to hire journalists in hundreds, even thousands, of communities and revitalize a dying industry. This will be among the most consequential examples of using AI to create journalism jobs and do public good at scale. It’s as big as the original Axios, and a great example of AI’s upside.Jumping ahead of AI curation. We’re launching specific products based not just on topics but also job titles. We’re starting at the top with new verticals for CEOs, CMOs, CCOs, COOs, CFOs and other C-suite executives. All jobs are changing faster than anyone can process. So understanding AI and news through this lens will be vital. Among the most common components of an AI prompt is stating what you do. So our products are designed for today and the coming LLM shift. We’ll also keep expanding into new niches, like future-focused space defense, all written by journalists with deep subject matter expertise.Shifting beyond the open web. Search is dying and bots are polluting the web. So we’ve created a new business line, Axios Direct, to sell clean, real-time feeds of our vetted news and information to businesses and others. Companies are building their own LLMs and pay to ingest truly great reporting, opening a new revenue stream that incentivizes quality. We want to help clean up the information ecosystem: Third-party data shows the Axios format and expert-first approach help us overperform in AI results. And we’re working with organizations to restructure their own content in more LLM-friendly ways to reduce misinformation about their work and products in AI.Accelerating human connection. We believe we’re on the verge of a renaissance in human connection: The better AI gets, the more people will crave and pursue in-person connection. So we’re vastly expanding our global, national and local events, and experimenting with hosting dinners and meet-ups in communities big and small. The Axios Social Club recently brought together more than 1,300 readers in 40 Axios Local markets for dinner with their neighbors. That’s the power of Axios in real life.What won’t change: Journalism is only valuable when it’s trusted, useful and illuminating. Only reporters can get people to share or leak information, fully understand the nuance of sources and stories, demand accountability, and offer deep analysis based on both data and person-to-person interactions.We have a responsibility, even a moral obligation, to protect and expand this vital reporting. A world changing at AI speed demands this.Share this column.👀 Do you have relatives, friends, coworkers who’d enjoy Axios AM? Shoot me their email addresses and I’ll invite them to join. Just hit “reply,” or write me: mike@axios.com.
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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