New York Times licenses content to Amazon’s AI models

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The New York Times (NASDAQ: NYT) has signed a deal with Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) to license its editorial content to the tech giant’s artificial intelligence (AI) models.

The deal is the first of its kind for America’s most popular newspaper, which has lagged behind its rivals, which have all signed similar deals. It also comes nearly 18 months since The NY Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) for allegedly illegally using its articles to train GPT models. 

In its statement, the paper revealed that Amazon will use its articles and content from its other outlets, including NYT Cooking and The Athletic, its sports publication. However, it didn’t disclose the financial terms of the deal.

In a note to staff, The New York Times CEO, Meredith Kopit Levien, stated that the agreement aligns with the paper’s principle that “quality journalism is worth paying for,” in a thinly-veiled jab at OpenAI, which it accused of using its content without compensation.

“It aligns with our deliberate approach to ensuring that our work is valued appropriately, whether through commercial deals or through the enforcement of our intellectual property rights,” she added.

Beyond training its AI models, Amazon will use the content to provide a real-time display of summaries and excerpts of The New York Times articles within its services, such as Alexa. 

AI giants scramble for data

While the Amazon deal is the first for The New York Times, its rivals have been inking agreements with AI giants to license their content to train the rapidly improving models.

A month before The New York Times sued OpenAI, the Sam Altman-led firm had signed an agreement with Axel Springer to use its articles to train its GPT AI models. Axel Springer owns Business Insider, Politico, Bild, and dozens of other top publications.

Since then, OpenAI has signed similar agreements with the Financial Times, Vogue, and New Yorker owner Condé Nast, Elle and Cosmopolitan’s parent company, Hearst Media, Spain’s Prisa Media, and France’s Le Monde. The AI developer pledged 
to link back to the original articles in all the deals and, with some outlets like the Financial Times, committed to 
developing new AI tools for its readers.

The New York Times is the first major news outlet to sign a content deal with Amazon, which has continued to fall behind its tech rivals in the AI battle, with Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Meta, and Microsoft all making massive strides over the past two years. Curiously, the Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, licensed its content to rival OpenAI just over a month ago.

This flurry of media deals is unfolding amid an intensifying clash between content creators and AI developers over the use of copyrighted content to train the models.

Creators, from publications like The NYT to authors like Sarah Silverman, argue that they must be compensated by AI firms that use their content to train the models. AI firms, in their defense, have argued that the training falls under the “fair use” protection and that their models generate general responses, not regurgitated content.

AI could threaten our sovereignty: Zimbabwe’s president

Elsewhere, the Zimbabwean president has warned against the dangers of AI as he unveiled the country’s National Media Policy.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa acknowledged that AI is revolutionizing all aspects of the social and economic sectors. In media, it’s reshaping how information is gathered, analyzed, and disseminated. 

However, it also presents novel risks, especially to developing nations. 

“The extensive and multi-pronged implications of these developments… have the danger of challenging our respective national sovereignty and democracy,” he stated.

Globally, stakeholders in media and beyond have warned against the danger of AI, especially in generating and spreading fake news. With image and video generators rapidly improving, detecting fake misinformation is more challenging than ever. The challenge is exacerbated in the global south, where governments lack the proper tools to crack down on perpetrators.

In order for artificial intelligence (AI) to work right within the law and thrive in the face of growing challenges, it needs to integrate an enterprise blockchain system that ensures data input quality and ownership—allowing it to keep data safe while also guaranteeing the immutability of data. Check out CoinGeek’s coverage on this emerging tech to learn more why Enterprise blockchain will be the backbone of AI.

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