On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Charles Zhang's English class, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Sohu.com shared his views on the impact of artificial intelligence on the traditional news industry during a media briefing with outlets like Sina Tech.

Zhang acknowledged that while AI technology has advanced rapidly and undergone profound changes in the past two years, it cannot fully replace traditional media, and news websites will not vanish.

Zhang pointed out that many people mistakenly believe reading news is about quickly grasping global events to appear "knowledgeable" in social settings. However, he argued this is only superficial. The real driver behind news consumption is curiosity and an interest in "how others see the world." "We read news not to rapidly understand world events for dinner conversation, feeling especially knowledgeable. We read news because as humans, with our survival, our lives, and our many confusions, we need to find references, find kindred spirits, and find spiritual support."

This "reference" and "support" often come from the narrative angles, word choices, fact arrangements, and implied attitudes in journalistic pieces—these are interpretations of the world by living people, not cold, factual lists.

Zhang admitted that he himself uses AI tools, such as Google's Gemini, to obtain information, but the use case is entirely different. AI is suitable for "asking specific questions," and it quickly returns a concise summary. However, this summary strips away the original context, the journalist's stance, and the media's cultural background. "From the large model, without the source of the article, what you see is it describing some facts. It doesn't tell you which reporter said it, what their opinion is, or what they think. So you can't tell; you must read the article itself."

He does not deny AI's profound impact on how internet information is distributed, but he emphasized that the model of experienced journalists presenting the world through text and reporting will always exist. "This form of media may become smaller in scale, but it will not disappear. This form of viewing the world through the descriptions of experienced media professionals will not disappear, and its value will always remain."