OpenAI inks $250mn deal with News Corp for AI training
OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has signed a multi-year contract with News Corp, which owns The Wall Street Journal, The Times, The New York Post, and The Sunday Times. This agreement grants OpenAI access to both current as well as archived content from all of News Corp's publications. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, the deal is tipped to be worth $250 million over five years, in cash and credits.
OpenAI's previous partnerships and legal challenges
OpenAI has previously formed similar agreements with major publications like the Financial Times and Axel Springer, the parent firm of Business Insider and Politico. These partnerships enable OpenAI to use licensed content for training its artificial intelligence models. However, not all publishers are supportive of this method, as evidenced by The New York Times suing OpenAI and Microsoft, over the use of its content to train generative AI and large-language model systems.
OpenAI and News Corp CEOs express enthusiasm for partnership
OpenAI's CEO, Sam Altman, expressed his excitement about the partnership with News Corp, calling it a "proud moment for journalism and technology." He further stated that this collaboration sets, "the foundation for a future where AI deeply respects, enhances, and upholds the standards of world-class journalism." Similarly, News Corp's CEO Tobert Thomson praised the agreement as setting new standards for veracity, virtue, and value in the digital age.
AI companies shift toward licensed content for training
The deal signifies a change in how AI companies train their models. Initially, these companies relied on scraping publicly available data from the internet, sans explicit consent from creators. Now, firms like OpenAI are entering financial agreements with news industry players, to make sure their AI models can be trained on current and authoritative information. This trend is not limited to OpenAI, with Google and Meta also reportedly considering similar agreements with news publishers.
