AP Reaches Two-Year Deal with OpenAI for News Content

The Associated Press announced it reached a two-year deal with OpenAI, the parent company of the generative AI (GAI) tool, ChatGPT, to share access to select news content and technology.

The First Deal of Its Kind

The deal marks one of the first official news-sharing agreements made between a major U.S. news company and an artificial intelligence firm. And, the deal comes amid concerns over ChatGPT’s use of user data and comedian Sarah Silverman’s lawsuit against OpenAI and ChatGPT for sourcing her copyrighted material in the creation of GAI content.

As part of the deal with the Associated Press, OpenAI will license some of the AP’s text archive dating back to 1985 to help train its artificial intelligence algorithms. As a reminder, ChatGPT ingested the entirety of the internet up to 2021 to create its library of information. This new partnership will enable the generative AI tool to pull from current news as it happens. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Here is a Brief Breakdown of the Deal Terms

• The AP will get access to OpenAI’s technology and product expertise.
• The two firms are still working through the technical details of how the sharing will work on the back end, a spokesperson said.
• Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s chief operating officer, said AP’s “feedback—along with access to their high-quality, factual text archive—will help to improve the capabilities and usefulness of OpenAI’s systems.”

How AP Has Used GAI Previously

The Associated Press was one of the first major national news organizations to use automation technology in its news report. The company says nearly ten years ago, it began automating corporate earnings reports before later using automation for its coverage of local sporting events. The media company expanded its use of automation for news-gathering and production processes, including helping partner newsrooms adopt automation for coverage of local public safety incidents, and translating weather alerts into Spanish. Earlier this year, AP launched an AI-enabled search tool making it easier for other newsrooms to access its library of photos and videos using descriptive language, rather than traditional metadata.

How AP Says They Will Use GAI Now

Despite this partnership, the AP says it does not yet use generative AI in its news stories and that “the partnership with OpenAI is meant to help the AP understand responsible use cases to potentially leverage generative AI in news products and services in the future.”

It’s no secret that the news industry has been struggling to figure out the best ways to leverage artificial intelligence for improved output, while protecting its copyrighted work from training AI algorithms without permission or compensation. The company clarified:

“AP firmly supports a framework that will ensure intellectual property is protected and content creators are fairly compensated for their work. News organizations must have a seat at the table to ensure this happens, so that newsrooms large and small can leverage this technology to benefit journalism.”

Kristin Heitmann, AP senior vice president and chief revenue officer, Associated Press

This surely won’t be the only collaboration between major news media companies and generative AI platforms. I will certainly pay attention to how this partnership plays out and will keep you informed.

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