NEW YORK, NY, Dec. 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Steve Morris, Founder and CEO of digital growth agency NEWMEDIA.COM, was prominently featured in The New York Times for his expert analysis on the rise of AI-generated influencers and what their growing adoption means for brand trust, audience engagement, and the future of digital marketing.
The NYT article, “These Travel Influencers Don’t Want Freebies. They’re A.I.,” explores how AI-powered virtual personalities are reshaping the influencer economy, challenging long-standing assumptions about authenticity, credibility, and human connection in online spaces.
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Expert Insights
Throughout the piece, Morris served as one of the primary industry experts offering a strategic perspective on how brands should interpret and respond to this shift, particularly as AI becomes more deeply embedded across social media, content marketing, and digital advertising. Morris emphasized that while AI influencers introduce efficiency and scale, they also expose a critical fault line in modern digital marketing: trust cannot be automated.
“AI can replicate consistency and volume, but it can’t replicate credibility,” Morris explained. “Trust is still built through human judgment, transparency, and values – not algorithms.”
He further noted that brands risk confusing short-term attention with long-term influence if AI-driven tactics are deployed without a cohesive strategy.
“The danger isn’t the technology,” Morris said. “It’s when companies mistake engagement metrics for genuine connection or believe novelty alone can sustain brand loyalty.”
This insight directly reflects the work Morris leads at NEWMEDIA.COM, where AI is treated not as a standalone tactic, but as one component of an integrated digital ecosystem. The agency helps brands align AI capabilities with social media marketing, influencer strategy, SEO, and digital experience design, ensuring that automation enhances, rather than erodes, trust and performance.
According to Morris, the rise of AI influencers underscores a broader shift in digital marketing: visibility alone is no longer enough.
“As AI-generated content floods social and search platforms, brands that win will be the ones that pair technology with authority,” he said. “That means clear positioning, consistent messaging, and systems designed to earn trust at scale.”
This systems-level approach is formalized through RankOS™, NEWMEDIA.COM’s proprietary digital authority framework. RankOS™ integrates AI-informed content strategy, social and influencer amplification, technical SEO, and conversion-focused UX to help brands build durable visibility across traditional search engines and emerging AI-driven discovery platforms. Rather than chasing isolated tactics, the framework is designed to create compounding authority in environments where credibility signals increasingly determine reach.
Morris’s prominent inclusion in The New York Times reinforces his role as a trusted expert at the intersection of artificial intelligence, influencer marketing, and modern digital strategy. As brands navigate a landscape where AI-generated voices compete with human ones for attention, his perspective highlights a defining truth of the next era of marketing: technology may scale influence, but strategy determines whether that influence lasts.
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Read the NYT Article
Read the full article at The New York Times here: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/travel/ai-influencers.html
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About NEWMEDIA.COM
NEWMEDIA.COM is a digital growth agency that helps startup, mid-market and enterprise organizations build, scale, and optimize high-performing digital ecosystems. The agency partners with ambitious brands to align strategy, technology, and experience design into cohesive systems that drive measurable, long-term growth.
NEWMEDIA.COM’s work spans AI-informed digital strategy, social media and influencer marketing, search engine optimization, conversion optimization, and custom web platforms. Rather than pursuing isolated tactics, the agency focuses on creating integrated digital foundations that strengthen visibility, credibility, and customer engagement across every stage of the buyer journey.
At the core of this approach is RankOS™, NEWMEDIA.COM’s proprietary digital authority framework. RankOS™ combines AI-driven content strategy, technical SEO, social and influencer amplification, and performance-focused UX to help brands earn durable visibility across traditional search engines and emerging AI-powered discovery platforms. The framework is designed to adapt as algorithms, platforms, and consumer behaviors evolve, ensuring growth strategies remain resilient, not reactive.
With a client portfolio that includes fast-growing brands and established organizations across multiple industries, NEWMEDIA.COM is trusted for its ability to translate complex digital challenges into clear, scalable systems. The agency’s work is grounded in data, guided by strategy, and built to support sustainable business outcomes in an increasingly AI-driven digital landscape.
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About Steve Morris
Steve Morris is the Founder and CEO of NEWMEDIA.COM and a recognized authority on digital strategy, search visibility, and emerging technology. His insights are frequently featured in leading national and industry publications for their strategic clarity and practical guidance on navigating an increasingly AI-driven digital landscape.