The Next Chapter: How TIME Is Turning AI into Audience, Influence, and Growth

The second session at Smartly Advance in New York brought publishing into the spotlight. On stage with Kristen Scholer of the New York Stock Exchange, TIME CEO Jessica Sibley spoke with conviction about how a century-old institution can find new growth in the age of AI.

She called the strategy “TIME 3.0.” It is both a nod to heritage and a signal of reinvention. At its core, it is not about replacing reporters with algorithms. It is about using AI to extend the reach of trusted journalism, to guard intellectual property, and to build the partnerships that will fund TIME’s next chapter.

A century-old brand with a new toolset

Scholer framed the discussion by noting TIME’s unusual longevity. Few media brands have lasted more than 100 years while remaining culturally central. Sibley’s answer was simple: survival comes from reinvention.

TIME has done this before - evolving from weekly digest to visual powerhouse, from magazine into broadcaster, from print into streaming through TIME Studios. Today, she argued, the point of inflection is artificial intelligence. TIME has been covering AI since the 1960s. Now it must embed it across how stories are distributed, protected, and monetised.

AI as a way to reach more people

Sibley began with audience. TIME already reaches more than 120 million people, but she believes AI allows the brand to meet people in more places and formats than ever before.

That means translation into dozens of languages at once, audio versions for those who prefer to listen, and concise summaries for readers short on time. It also means unlocking TIME’s own archive. With over a century of reporting and imagery, the archive is one of the richest in media. Through private models developed with partners like Scale AI, TIME is building ways to make this material searchable and interactive - a living resource rather than a static vault.

She stressed that journalism itself remains human-led. The role of AI is to carry the work further. But with bots already outnumbering humans on TIME.com, protection is as critical as distribution. Guarding the archive against unauthorised scraping while enabling new experiences is now central to the strategy.

Trust as the currency of influence

Audience scale only matters if trust remains intact. For TIME, influence comes from credibility - who appears on its covers, who engages with its events, and who grants interviews in moments that shape culture.

Sibley said AI has to reinforce that trust. When TIME launched “TIME AI” alongside its Person of the Year announcement at the NYSE, the risks of error were significant. Every potential partner was stress-tested against criteria of accuracy, governance, and brand safety. She referenced Warren Buffett’s line that it takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to lose it. That principle now applies as much to technology partnerships as it does to journalism.

This explains why TIME has chosen collaboration with AI companies rather than immediate litigation. By being at the table, the brand can shape terms of engagement, protect its IP, and ensure compensation as models ingest and distribute content. The credibility bar is the same whether the output is a magazine cover, a podcast, or an AI tool: it has to be accurate, and it has to be trusted.

Turning partnerships into growth

Sibley was also clear about revenue. When she joined in 2022, TIME’s consumer subscription model was not enough to sustain growth. Competing with digital natives for small-margin subscriptions was a losing battle. Instead, she steered the business toward high-value B2B partnerships.

Today, TIME works directly with CEOs and chief communications officers to create long-term campaigns that blend content, live forums, and storytelling across platforms. The Circle partnership, built around its IPO and subsequent policy conversations in Washington, was cited as an example. These are not one-off ad buys; they are programmes designed to showcase leadership narratives through TIME’s channels and stages.

TIME Studios extends that model into film and television, creating scripted and documentary projects that give partners reach far beyond a print page. AI plays a role here too, enabling assets to be repurposed quickly and campaigns to scale without losing consistency.

For Sibley, this is not an apology for commerce. It is a way to fund ambitious journalism while aligning with the brand’s identity as a convener of leaders and ideas.

Why TIME’s playbook matters

The conversation came against a backdrop of structural pressure on publishing. Privacy rules have eroded ad targeting. Generative AI has begun scraping news content at scale. Some publishers have turned to lawsuits; others to strict paywalls. TIME’s model suggests another route: collaborate with tech firms, protect IP, and reframe revenue around influence rather than clicks.

The lesson is that AI should be treated not as a gimmick but as infrastructure. By embedding it into distribution, licensing, and campaign delivery, TIME shows how heritage brands can adapt without losing what made them valuable in the first place.

This is less about competing with Substack or TikTok and more about playing a different game: multiplying cultural credibility with new tools, so that TIME remains relevant at the highest levels of business and politics.

Looking ahead

Asked about the next five years, Sibley declined to make predictions. TIME has been writing about AI since 1965, long before its potential was understood. What matters now is continuing to build “the best version of TIME” - a version that uses AI responsibly, protects its assets, and stays trusted.

That might mean more personalised consumer experiences. It will certainly mean stricter frameworks for partnerships and licensing. Above all, it will mean staying true to the idea that journalism is human-led, even as technology extends its reach.

A wider lesson for the industry

In a conference dominated by performance marketing talk, TIME’s presence served as a reminder of the wider purpose of media. Sibley positioned AI not as a threat to jobs but as a multiplier for trust, influence, and storytelling.

Her message was simple: heritage is not a constraint if reinvention is pursued with discipline. In that sense, TIME’s next chapter is not just about publishing. It is a case study in how any legacy brand can turn AI from disruption into advantage - provided it treats trust as the foundation.

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