OpenAI To Pay Politico Parent For Content

"News publisher Axel Springer has signed a multiyear licensing deal with ChatGPT creator OpenAI, a milestone as media companies push for compensation for the use of their content in artificial-intelligence tools.

Under the agreement, OpenAI will pay to use content from Axel Springer publications, which include Politico and Business Insider in the U.S. and European properties Bild and Welt, to populate answers in ChatGPT and train its AI tools.

The companies declined to disclose financial terms, but the pact is expected to generate substantial revenue for Axel Springer.

When ChatGPT uses information from Axel Springer publications to answer a user's query, it will include links to the original sources of the information below the answer, the companies said in a joint statement. The new format, which would generate an answer in the form of a summary, is set to debut in the coming months. The aim is to ensure that those websites get credit, compensation and web traffic.

OpenAI will be able to display answers and train its technology using Axel Springer's archival and current material. Axel Springer will also be able to use OpenAI's technology to improve its own products, the publisher said.

"We want to explore the opportunities of AI-empowered journalism -- to bring quality, societal relevance and the business model of journalism to the next level," Axel Springer Chief Executive Mathias Dopfner said.

The deal isn't exclusive. That means Axel Springer can generate revenue from deals with other generative AI companies that want to use its content.

The deal offers a glimpse into the future business dealings between news organizations and the companies behind leading generative AI tools, including OpenAI, Alphabet's Google and Microsoft.

The rapid rise of AI set off fears across the publishing industry that the technology could threaten the foundation of their businesses, siphoning away traffic that would otherwise go to their news sites and making use of their content without paying for it. OpenAI and other AI tools are trained on vast amounts of internet data, including news articles.

In its negotiations with publishers, OpenAI has discussed using article word count as one of the measures to determine compensation for use of their content, according to people familiar with the matter.

"This partnership with Axel Springer will help provide people with new ways to access quality, real-time news content through our AI tools," OpenAI Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap said in a statement.

The Associated Press recently announced its own licensing deal with OpenAI. OpenAI is licensing part of AP's text archive for training, but the deal doesn't include the use of AP content in ChatGPT, according to a person familiar with the matter." [1]

1. OpenAI To Pay Politico Parent For Content. Bruell, Alexandra.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 14 Dec 2023: B.1.