Robert Way
OpenAI, the generative artificial intelligence startup backed by Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), has signed a deal with British news outlet Financial Times to allow its content to be used to train the former’s AI models.
The FT will receive an undisclosed payment as part of the deal. In return, users of OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot will get summaries and quotes from FT articles and links where appropriate.
“Our partnership and ongoing dialogue with the FT is about finding creative and productive ways for AI to empower news organizations and journalists, and enrich the ChatGPT experience with real-time, world-class journalism for millions of people around the world,” OpenAI Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap added.
Microsoft announced a multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI in January 2023.
OpenAI’s varied history with media
The deal with the FT comes amid a mixed track record for OpenAI when it comes to the media industry and the use of content to train its AI models.
OpenAI announced in December 2023 that it signed a deal with publishing company Axel Springer to use the media company’s content to train its AI models.
It also recently signed deals with French newspaper Le Monde and Spanish media conglomerate Prisa Media and has existing deals with the Associated Press, the American Journalism Project and NYU.
Publishers including News Corp. (NWS) (NWSA), Gannett (GCI) and others have also reportedly held talks with OpenAI to license their content.
However, The New York Times Company (NYT) sued Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright infringement in late December, alleging the tech companies illegally used the newspaper’s content to train artificial intelligence models.
Since then, The Times and OpenAI have been engaged in a back and forth, with OpenAI saying the newspaper company is “not telling the full story” and accusing the Times of hacking its products.
The New York Times denied OpenAI’s claim that it improperly used its products and said the company is “grandstanding.”
A group of 11 nonfiction writers recently joined a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court that alleged OpenAI and Microsoft misused their books to train the companies’ AI models.
In September, OpenAI was sued in a New York federal court by a number of authors, including George R.R. Martin and John Grisham, over alleged copyright infringement.
