Stop playing in the kiddie pool: Why local media needs professional AI tools

Here’s what I tell every media executive I consult with: The companies experimenting with professional AI tools today will have an insurmountable content advantage by 2026.”

Guy Tasaka, managing partner at Tasaka Digital and Editor & Publisher’s technology columnist

You’re still using free ChatGPT for everything, aren’t you?

I see it all the time. Media executives treating AI like a novelty instead of the business transformation tool it actually is. They’ll spend $500 on a dinner but won’t invest $20 a month in technology that could revolutionize their content creation, proposal building and marketing operations.

Here's the thing: You’re leaving money on the table every single day.

The RAG revolution that changes everything

Let me explain RAG in terms that matter to your bottom line. RAG — Retrieval-Augmented Generation — is simply your AI knowing your stuff. Your past articles, your rate cards, your success stories, your brand voice guidelines. Instead of starting from scratch every time, you’re building on your institutional knowledge.

I have observed, anecdotally, that a small market publisher in Texas reported cutting their proposal creation time from three days to three hours using this approach. While this example illustrates potential efficiency gains, results may vary depending on implementation.

They uploaded their media kits, past case studies and rate information into a custom AI workspace. Now when a potential advertiser asks for a campaign proposal, they’re not rebuilding the wheel.

This is where the magic happens for local media:

• Article creation that references your past coverage and maintains your editorial voice
• Proposal building that automatically includes your current rates and relevant success stories
• Marketing materials that sound like your brand, not generic AI copy
• Social media content that connects to your existing content library

The free tiers can’t do this. They’re essentially expensive typewriters that forget everything the moment you close the browser.

Platform breakdown: What $20 actually buys you

The AI market has matured significantly. According to a 2025 market report from FirstPageSage, ChatGPT dominates with approximately 59.7% market share and 800 million weekly active users, but that doesn’t mean it’s automatically the best choice for your operation.

• ChatGPT Plus ($20/month) offers features such as Custom GPTs with the ability to upload up to 20 files per GPT, as detailed on OpenAI’s pricing page. Imagine having one GPT loaded with your style guide and past articles for content creation, another with your advertising packages for sales proposals, and a third with your event coverage for community engagement.
• Claude Pro ($20/month) is experiencing around 14% quarterly growth, making it one of the fastest-growing AI platforms according to recent industry analysis by FirstPageSage. Claude offers Projects with a massive 200K token context window — roughly 500 pages of content. If you’re doing long-form investigative pieces or need to analyze extensive documents, Claude excels here.
• Google Gemini AI Pro ($19.99/month) integrates directly with Google Workspace, which most local media operations already use. Upload files directly from Google Drive, work within Docs and Sheets, and maintain your existing workflow while adding AI capabilities.
• Perplexity Pro ($20/month) combines web search with your internal knowledge base through Collections. For news operations that need real-time information combined with organizational context, this is powerful. You get 300+ advanced searches daily plus the ability to upload and analyze unlimited files.

Free tiers typically lack file upload capabilities, persistent context and custom knowledge bases, limiting their utility for professional media operations, according to platform documentation and the Wise.com AI Pricing Overview. You’re essentially using a very expensive calculator.

The $20 decision that transforms operations

Let’s talk real numbers. A freelance writer in your market probably charges $150-$600 per article. A marketing consultant runs $75-$300 per hour. Your current proposal creation process likely involves multiple staff members over several days.

Twenty dollars per month.

That’s probably less than what you spend on coffee in a week, and it transforms every content creation task in your operation.

For larger operations, team tiers cost $25-$30 per user monthly with collaboration features, as confirmed by OpenAI’s pricing and competitor models. Multiple staff members can access shared knowledge bases, maintain consistent brand voice across all content and build institutional knowledge that doesn’t walk out the door when employees leave.

I’ve seen multi-property companies using enterprise tiers to standardize content creation across markets while maintaining local relevance. They upload market-specific information to shared workspaces and create templates that individual markets can customize.

Moving beyond the training wheels

Here’s what I tell every media executive I consult with: The companies experimenting with professional AI tools today will have an insurmountable content advantage by 2026.

Your competitors are still asking ChatGPT to “write an article about the city council meeting” and wondering why it sounds generic. Meanwhile, you could be feeding it your coverage from the past five years, your source relationships and your community context to create content that actually serves your audience.

Start with one platform for 30 days:

• If you're Google Workspace heavy, try Gemini AI Pro.
• If you need maximum flexibility and already have content systems, go with ChatGPT Plus.
• If you’re handling complex documents and investigations, test Claude Pro.
• If real-time news research is critical, experiment with Perplexity Pro.

Upload your media kit, style guide and five of your best recent articles. Create one piece of content using this knowledge base. Then try building a proposal for a current prospect.

You’ll immediately understand why I’m pushing this so hard.

The AI revolution isn’t coming to local media — it’s here. The question isn’t whether you’ll adopt these tools, but whether you’ll be early enough to gain competitive advantage or late enough to be playing catch-up.

Due to the rapid evolution of AI tools and pricing, readers are encouraged to verify current platform features and costs regularly to make informed investment decisions.

Be early. Experiment now. Your future self will thank you.

And your competitors? They’ll still be starting every project from a blank page while you’re building on years of institutional knowledge with every keystroke.

Guy Tasaka is a seasoned media professional with a 35-year track record of leading change in the industry. He has collaborated with renowned organizations such as Macworld Magazine, Ziff-Davis and The New York Times, where he honed his expertise in research, strategy, marketing and product management. As the former chief digital officer at Calkins Media, Guy was acknowledged as the Local Media Association's Innovator of the Year for his work in advancing OTT and digital video platforms for local news organizations. He is also the founder and managing partner of Tasaka Digital, specializing in helping media and technology companies navigate business transformations using his extensive experience and forward-thinking approach. Guy can be reached at guy@tasakadigital.com.