[soorajsanker]

That format shift is exactly the mechanic. Summary-first structure isn't just reader UX — it's how you get your passage into the top-k chunks that actually reach the model's context window during RAG retrieval. The chunk that gets cited is usually the one that answers the query in the first 2-3 sentences, standalone, without needing surrounding context to make sense.

The news sites doing this probably aren't optimizing for AI citations intentionally — but they're converging on the same structure anyway because it works for skimmers and for models. Same underlying reason.

[ksaj]

It works for me, because I am a skimmer. The opposite style I still see online, and I really dislike, is when they tease the answer for 5 or 6 paragraphs, only for you to then find out it wasn't all that interesting to begin with. It's a very weak form of click bait to my eyes.

The AI-optimized method lets you know right away if the article is going to be interesting to the human reader as well.