AI Driving News Deals

In a repeat of the copyright battles fought in the early days of the internet, news publishers are going after AI providers for use of news material to train AI systems. This time, the fight is taking place in boardrooms rather than courtrooms (at least, so far). The news publishers want a piece of the action, i.e., to participate in the potential revenues brought in by AI by being paid licensing fees for their content. The AP inked such a deal over the summer, and other news organizations are now looking for their own such arrangements.    

Why It Matters

Anyone who remembers the heady days of linking and framing cases on the internet is sure to be enthralled by a new wave of disputes over whether and how copyrighted material can be re-purposed by downstream commercial services. To me, having been there the first time and having spent much of my career protecting commercial IP, this feels like a no-brainer. If you want to use someone else's material for your money-making venture, you need their consent and you probably need to pay them. We'll see how valuable news material is to AI creators, but this wave of deal-making seems likely to be the news publishers' benefit. We'll also see whether any of these negotiations break down and land in court.