AI-Readiness Directory · News & media
The most AI-ready news & media sites
AI answer engines cite the news they can parse. We graded the major news and media sites on how citable and crawlable they are to agents and answer engines — clean structure, machine-readable content, and open access all count.
Every site is graded against the AgentReady standard — roughly 30 checks across 6 categories (discoverability, content, capabilities, identity, commerce, and AI visibility) — and re-scanned weekly.
| Rank | Site | Grade | Score | Biggest gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engadget | C- | 72 | AI Visibility |
| 2 | The Verge | F | 50 | Discoverability |
| 3 | Mashable | F | 47 | Discoverability |
| 4 | Ars Technica | F | 45 | Capabilities |
| 5 | BBC | F | 45 | Capabilities |
| 6 | Business Insider | F | 44 | Capabilities |
| 7 | TechRadar | F | 44 | Capabilities |
| 8 | Forbes | F | 43 | Discoverability |
| 9 | TechCrunch | F | 43 | Capabilities |
| 10 | Wired | F | 41 | Capabilities |
| 11 | The New York Times | F | 39 | Discoverability |
| 12 | The Guardian | F | 36 | Capabilities |
| 13 | CNBC | F | 34 | Discoverability |
| 14 | CNN | F | 23 | Discoverability |
| 15 | The Wall Street Journal | F | 17 | AI Visibility |
| 16 | Bloomberg | F | 14 | AI Visibility |
| 17 | Financial Times | F | 14 | Discoverability |
| 18 | Reuters | F | 11 | AI Visibility |
| 19 | Axios | F | 8 | AI Visibility |
| 20 | The Atlantic | F | 8 | AI Visibility |
| 21 | VentureBeat | F | 3 | AI Visibility |
| 22 | The Economist | F | 2 | AI Visibility |
| 23 | Associated Press | F | 2 | AI Visibility |
| 24 | Politico | F | 2 | AI Visibility |
Won't let an agent in (2)
These sites refuse AI-agent access entirely — a real agent can't even connect.
- NPR
- The Washington Post
Want to see where your own site lands?
Scan your own site free →FAQ
What makes a news & media site "AI-ready"?
An AI-ready site lets an automated agent find it, read its content without running JavaScript, and act on it — through clean structure, machine-readable data (JSON-LD, llms.txt), open crawl access, and exposed tools. We grade each site against the AgentReady standard across six categories.
How are these rankings calculated?
Each site is scanned and scored 0–100 against the AgentReady standard — roughly 30 automated checks across discoverability, content, capabilities, identity, commerce, and AI visibility. The leaderboard ranks by overall score, highest first, and re-scans weekly so grades stay current.
Can I get my own site graded?
Yes — scanning any site is free. Enter your URL on the AgentGauge homepage and you'll get the same grade, category breakdown, and the specific fixes that would raise it.