The AP’s AI playbook: Troy Thibodeaux on liquid content, integrity, and the future of news

From “news wholesaler” to AI innovator—how the Associated Press is adapting to new audience habits, synthetic content, and search-native journalism.

This week on The Media Copilot podcast, host Pete Pachal sits down with Troy Thibodeaux, Director of AI Products and Services at The Associated Press. A pioneer in AI-powered journalism, Troy has been ahead of the curve—long before ChatGPT made AI a household name.

With AI search platforms like Perplexity, ChatGPT, and Google’s AI Overviews reshaping how people access news, media companies are being forced to rethink their entire approach. But the AP occupies a unique space in the ecosystem: it’s a news wholesaler, serving thousands of outlets rather than individual readers. So when audiences demand instant summaries, auto-generated podcasts, and AI-written rundowns, the AP’s biggest challenge isn’t competition—it’s maintaining editorial integrity across every remix.

Pete and Troy unpack:

🔹 How the AP defines “liquid content” and where AI fits in

🔹 The ethical boundaries and red lines around synthetic news 🔹 Why adapting to AI isn’t just a tech problem—it’s a newsroom culture shift

🔹 How the AP’s structure gives it an edge in the AI news arms race

If you care about the future of journalism and how legacy institutions are rewriting their rulebooks for an AI-powered era, this episode is essential listening.

🎙 Guest: Troy Thibodeaux

Director of AI Products & Services, The Associated Press  |https://www.linkedin.com/in/troy-thibodeaux/ 

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This episode of The Media CoPilot was produced by Pete Pachal, Executive Producer Michele Musso, and with video/audio editing by the Musso Media team. Produced by Musso Media. © 2025 Musso Media. All rights reserved.

Music: Favorite by Alexander Nakarada, licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 4.0 License 

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