For months, some of the U.S. media industry's biggest players have been in confidential discussions with OpenAI over a sensitive issue: the price and terms of licensing their content to the artificial intelligence company.
The curtain was pulled back on those negotiations this week when The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement, alleging that the companies had used their content without permission to develop artificial intelligence products.
The Times said it had been talking to the companies about a deal for months before the lawsuit. And it wasn't alone. Other news organizations – including Gannett, the largest U.S. newspaper company; News Corp, the owner of The Wall Street Journal; and IAC, the digital colossus behind The Daily Beast and magazine publisher Dotdash Meredith — have been in talks with OpenAI, said three people familiar with the negotiations, who requested anonymity to discuss the confidential talks.
The News/Media Alliance, which represents more than 2,200 news organizations in North America, has also spoken with OpenAI about developing a framework for a deal that suits its members, a person familiar with the discussions said.
Microsoft, OpenAI's largest investor, which integrates OpenAI's technology into its products, has also held discussions. “We have had thoughtful conversations with a number of publishers and look forward to future discussions,” said Frank Shaw, a Microsoft spokesman.
Companies like OpenAI and Microsoft have sought licensing deals with news organizations to train AI systems that can produce human-like prose. These systems, in turn, support applications such as chatbots that companies can use to generate revenue.
Nearly a dozen publishing executives and media industry experts say the talks have been complicated by the rapid development of artificial intelligence applications in the market, which has raised thorny questions for the future of the media industry.
In a statement, OpenAI said it respects the rights of content creators and owners and believes they should benefit from AI technology, citing its contracts with The Associated Press and German publishing group Axel Springer.
“We continue to have productive conversations with many of them around the world to discuss their questions about AI,” Kayla Wood, a spokeswoman for OpenAI, said in a statement. “We are optimistic that we will continue to find mutually beneficial ways to work together to support a rich news ecosystem.”
News publishers have had precarious relationships with technology companies since they lost much of their traditional advertising business to newcomers like Google and Facebook more than a decade ago, and publishing executives fear selling their content too cheaply.
“I think part of the reason news organizations are looking at OpenAI so carefully now is because they have a 20-year history that suggests we're giving away the keys to the kingdom if we're not careful,” Andrew said Morse, the publisher of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the flagship newspaper of Cox Media Group, which is not in discussions with OpenAI.
There are also fears that artificial intelligence applications could provide inaccurate information when citing their articles, which could damage companies' credibility.
“We've been through a decade of misinformation and disinformation, and that was before AI,” said Ken Doctor, a media analyst and entrepreneur. “With AI, we are now at the beginning of the age in which everyone has the ability to promote and multiply misinformation and disinformation. And of course that scares news publishers.”
Still, some news organizations have reached agreements. The agreement with The Associated Press, announced in July, allows OpenAI to license The AP's news article archive. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Axel Springer, whose holdings include Politico and Business Insider, went a step further: This month, the company inked a multiyear deal that gave OpenAI access to its news archive and allowed the artificial intelligence company to publish newly published articles in apps how to use ChatGPT. The deal, which includes a “performance fee” based on how often OpenAI uses its content, is worth more than $10 million a year, a person familiar with the agreement said.
Some media companies have decided not to prioritize commercial deals with OpenAI. Bloomberg, which has a massive data terminal business that uses artificial intelligence, is focused on boosting its own AI efforts, according to a person familiar with the company's strategy. The Washington Post also has not engaged in negotiations with OpenAI in recent months, a person familiar with the company's efforts said.
Despite the tensions between the news industry and OpenAI, some publishing executives were measured about the potential benefits of AI. Jim Friedlich, the executive director of the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, the nonprofit owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, said news organizations and artificial intelligence companies are “increasingly interdependent” because users want AI technology with reliable information.
“It is important for all parties to reach an agreement and to do so as quickly as possible,” he said. “It’s unclear whether this will take months or years.”