Time Magazine Launches AI Agent to Transform Reader Engagement with Journalism

Exclusive: Time launches new AI agent

Why it matters: The tool marks Time's biggest bet yet on AI as the publication looks to not only deepen reader engagement but also grow enterprise revenue. * "If the mass consumption of the internet is this agentic experience, then Time also must adapt to that moment," Time editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs tells Axios. * "People spend hours and hours with agents, and hopefully this means that they will spend a lot more time with our journalism," Jacobs adds. Zoom in: The AI agent, built in partnership with Scale AI, allows users to query and interact with Time's reporting. * At launch, it's available on politics and entertainment articles and has a dedicated page. Time COO Mark Howard says they later will explore adding it to the homepage and the rest of the site. * The AI agent pulls from Time's archive, including magazine issues and online articles. It's fully trained on Time content -- about 750,000 assets from the archive -- and does not pull from the open web or other sources. * The agent can translate text and audio into 13 languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic and Russian. Language accessibility is notable given how 40% of Time's digital readership is outside of the U.S., Jacobs says. Zoom out: Time is investing in AI as both a tool and a topic of coverage. * Last year, Time unveiled an AI chatbot for its annual Person of the Year announcement, also part of its ongoing partnership with Scale AI. * Time has struck a slew of deals with AI companies, including OpenAI, ProRata.AI, Perplexity, Amazon and others. * The publisher debuted its Time 100 list for AI in 2023. What they're saying: "Time is miles ahead in using AI to enhance how people experience journalism. This is a blueprint for how publishers can use AI agents to create a more meaningful relationship between their audience and their content," Scale AI CEO Jason Droege tells Axios. The big picture: Time joins a slew of publishing companies building AI interfaces to help readers engage further with their content. * Forbes launched a generative AI search tool called Adelaide in 2023. * The Financial Times began testing its "Ask FT" AI chatbot last year. The chatbot is trained on decades of its own articles. * The Washington Post launched an "Ask The Post AI" feature last year that was available as a standalone search page. It's expanded its AI chatbot capabilities further in the months since. Follow the money: Time is not monetizing the agent at launch and instead focusing on engagement and building a foundation for future sponsorships and an enterprise business. * "I can't wait for those phone calls," Howard says of publishers inquiring about potentially licensing the agent. * "We'd like to have an enterprise technology business, right? I mean, who wouldn't?" Jacobs says. What's next: The Time AI agent is not currently personalized and lacks memory.

The Story Behind the TIME AI Agent

TIME is taking its most ambitious leap yet to reimagine how readers engage with TIME's journalism through artificial intelligence. Today, we're launching the TIME AI Agent, a unified, AI-powered platform that is built on a foundation of trusted reporting and advanced generative technology. The Agent doesn't just inform, it interacts. This project builds on over a year of development and two previous launches. Earlier this year, we introduced personalized daily audio briefs, short, human-sounding updates that delivered the most important stories directly to audiences. In December 2024, TIME and Scale AI launched an experiment: a generative experience tied to Person of the Year, designed to bring one of TIME's most celebrated franchises to life in a new, conversational form.