OpenAI, led by CEO Sam Altman, has recently signed a significant agreement with News Corp, giving it access to a wealth of content from some of the largest news publications owned by the media conglomerate. Announced on Wednesday, this deal marks another step in OpenAI’s strategy to enhance its AI models and content offerings, notably through its popular ChatGPT chatbot, which generates human-like responses and summarizes long texts.
Strategic Partnership for AI Development
This collaboration comes on the heels of another notable agreement where OpenAI secured a content licensing deal with the Financial Times, aimed at bolstering its AI model development. These partnerships are crucial for OpenAI as they provide extensive datasets that enhance the quality and accuracy of the content produced by ChatGPT and other AI tools. Access to diverse and reputable sources of information allows the AI to train on a wide array of topics, improving its ability to generate reliable and contextually accurate responses.
Benefits for News Publishers
For news publishers like those under News Corp, these deals present lucrative opportunities. Traditionally, news organizations have struggled to capture a share of the profits that internet giants earn from distributing their content. By licensing their content to AI companies like OpenAI, they can secure additional revenue streams. Although OpenAI has not disclosed the financial specifics of the deal, the Wall Street Journal, a News Corp property, reported that the agreement could exceed $250 million over five years. Such financial arrangements represent a substantial revenue boost for participating publishers.
Safeguarding Original Content
An important aspect of the agreement is the guarantee that content from News Corp’s publications will not be immediately available on ChatGPT following its initial publication on the respective news websites. This provision helps protect the value of fresh content and ensures that publishers can maintain traffic and engagement on their platforms before the material is disseminated through ChatGPT.
Access to Extensive News Corp Archives
The deal grants OpenAI access to both current and archived content from a range of News Corp publications, including influential outlets like the Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, and the Times, among others. This access will likely enrich the dataset available to OpenAI, allowing it to train its AI models on a broad spectrum of high-quality journalism and historical data. Such a comprehensive archive is invaluable for developing AI that can understand and generate responses across various domains and time periods.
Market Impact and Future Prospects
Following the announcement of the deal, News Corp’s shares saw a 4% increase in after-hours trading, reflecting investor confidence in the potential benefits of this partnership. This uptick indicates a positive market reaction and underscores the perceived value of such collaborations in the evolving landscape of digital media and AI.
Previous Collaborations and Ongoing Expansion
This agreement is part of a broader trend for OpenAI, which has been actively seeking content partnerships to fuel its AI advancements. Just last week, OpenAI secured a content deal with Reddit, further expanding its access to diverse data sources. These collaborations are essential for OpenAI as it continues to refine and expand its AI capabilities, aiming to offer more sophisticated and contextually aware tools to users.