News Corp., a major media company, has made a deal with OpenAI, the most well-known artificial intelligence company, to share news content for both training purposes and to answer questions from users.
As part of the multi-year agreement, OpenAI — the ChatGPT manufacturer — will have access to both new and old material from News Corp.’s major news publications, such as Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, New York Post, The Daily Telegraph, and others.
The companies did not share details about how long the deal will last or how much it is worth, but The Wall Street Journal reported that it could be valued at more than $250 million over a period of five years.
OpenAI has also made deals with other media companies to use their news content for training, including The Associated Press, large news publishers like Axel Springer in Germany and Prisa Media in Spain, as well as France’s Le Monde newspaper and the Financial Times based in London.
What makes the News Corp. deal different is that OpenAI will be allowed to use the news content to answer questions from users. This comes at a time when Google has announced changes to its search engines to directly address queries, rather than sending people to articles published by news organizations.
Not all companies are happy about AI using their content. The New York Times, for example, sued OpenAI and Microsoft late last year, accusing the companies of basically stealing the work of its journalists to train chatbots.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, believes the News Corp. deal is a proud moment for both journalism and technology. He said, “Together, we are setting the foundation for a future where AI deeply respects, enhances and upholds the standards of world-class journalism.”
Jason Cuomo, a senior vice president at Moody’s Ratings, sees the deal as a positive thing for News Corp.’s credit.
He said that working with the leader in generative AI shows that News Corp.’s approach to making money from its media brands is a good one and that there is an opportunity for the company to grow sales and profits in the news media segment.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.