OpenAI strikes major deal with News Corp to boost ChatGPT

By Trevor Mogg Published May 23, 2024

A laptop screen shows the home page for ChatGPT, OpenAI's artificial intelligence chatbot. — Rolf van Root / Unsplash

OpenAI has struck a major deal with News Corp to access content to train its AI models, the companies announced on Wednesday.

The multiyear agreement is reportedly worth as much as $250 million and gives OpenAI access to content from News Corp’s large stable of titles across several countries that include The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, The New York Post, The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, The Australian, news.com.au, The Daily Telegraph, The Courier Mail, and the Herald Sun.

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The agreement gives OpenAI the green light to display content from News Corp in response to user questions and to acesss News Corp’s vast database of material to train its AI models to improve its ChatGPT chatbot and other AI-powered products and services.

“Our partnership with News Corp is a proud moment for journalism and technology,” Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, said in a release. “We greatly value News Corp’s history as a leader in reporting breaking news around the world, and are excited to enhance our users’ access to its high-quality reporting.”

Altman added: “Together, we are setting the foundation for a future where AI deeply respects, enhances, and upholds the standards of world-class journalism.”

News Corp chief Robert Thomson described the deal as a “historic agreement” that will “set new standards for veracity, for virtue, and for value in the digital age.”

OpenAI’s announcement follows similar agreements with the U.K.-based Financial Times, German publishing giant Axel Springer, and the Associated Press news service.

Such deals are becoming more common as companies developing generative-AI technology seek to avoid legal trouble and copyright claims when using content to train their AI models. OpenAI, for example, had been pulling data from the web to train its models, but growing discontent among creatives whose work was being used without their permission has forced OpenAI to seek deals with publishers for properly approved access to content.

Google, which is competing with OpenAI in the field of generative AI, also reportedly inked a similar deal with News Corp last month and announced an agreement with Reddit in February.

Such deals usually mean that, in return, the tech firms will develop new AI-powered products and features that the publishers will be able to incorporate into their platforms.

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Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

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