At Wan-Ifra Digital Media India (DMI) 2026, Puneet Gupt, COO, Times Internet, gave an insightful presentation on navigating the AI era and the perils of putting too much focus on chasing the algorithm—drawing on practical strategies and lessons from the media house’s approach to innovation, audience engagement, trust and sustainable digital success.
The focus so far, he said, has been too much on following the algorithm and traffic (from Big Tech) and less on building organic audiences. To keep pace with the algorithm, there is carpet bombing of content, leaving the audience puzzled and fatigued.
“We never introduced ourselves to the audiences, didn’t build a relationship with them. We didn’t address them or their pain points but just followed the algorithm… 50 to 70% of traffic is from the algorithm, and that’s not something to cheer about,” he cautioned.
“It’s the crawler for which we optimized our headlines. It’s the crawler for which we wrote the meta tags, and changed the content length,” he said. “Don’t build on borrowed land,” he argued.
The ad click era is over, he said. “The algorithm era is over. I think we are at the dawn of the relationship era.”
Elaborating on the use of AI, Gupt said artificial intelligence can be used as a revenue driver, innovator, to optimize sales and productivity in employees, and give media houses the fast-mover advantage.
Citing examples from the group, he said Times Internet uses AI in videos, ads; the astrology section, to enhance user experience and generate AI summaries. etc. The sections that extensively use AI are ET Prime, MasterClass, TimeAstro, TimeHealth, TOIHomes, TOIMoney, etc
“Use AI to fight the AI threat,” he said, adding there is a need to move from clicks to commitments and from selling eyeballs to leveraging trust,” Gupt said.
Gupt presented a clear framework, a playbook as he called it, for publishers facing rapid technological change. He argued that becoming AI-native requires more than tools; it demands a transformation of internal processes and decision-making. Beyond operations, he urged publishers to focus on building strong, direct connections with their audiences through tailored, brand-aligned experiences.
Finally, he positioned trust as a critical economic asset, suggesting that credibility enhances both engagement and monetization. His playbook encourages publishers to rethink not only how they operate, but also how they connect and earn.
“I keep telling my team: ‘Trust will always convert better than any conversion funnel, any traffic-based conversion that you see,’” Gupt said.
Summing up, he said media houses should know their readers, use AI to fast-track, and do things in a better way. “AI is not content; it is a new operating system,” he concluded.
(This article was amended on 8/5/2026 to include more quotes)
