• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, April 29, 2024

OpenAI, the AI start-up backed by Microsoft, has signed a deal with The Financial Times to train AI models based on FT’s archived content. 

The agreement, the latest between OpenAI and a global news publisher, allows OpenAI to license FT material to develop generative AI technology that can create text, images and code that are indistinguishable from human creations, FT reports. 

In addition, the arrangement lets ChatGPT technology respond to questions with short summaries from FT articles, with links back to FT.com. 

“Apart from the benefits to the FT, there are broader implications for the industry,” says John Ridding, chief executive of FT. “It’s right, of course, that AI platforms pay publishers for the use of their material. At the same time, it’s clearly in the interests of users that these products contain reliable sources.”

ChatGPT maker OpenAI has signed several other such deals over the past year, with Associated Press, Germany’s Axel Springer, France’s Le Monde and Spain’s Prisa Media, the report continues.  

According to FT, Axel Springer could earn tens of millions of euros per year for letting OpenAI access content from Bild, Politico and Business Insider.  

The Axel Springer arrangement includes a one-off payment for the publisher’s historical content in addition to a larger fee under an annual licensing agreement that will allow OpenAI access to more up-to-date material, FT continues. 

The New York Times filed suit late last year, against Microsoft and OpenAI, charging that they used its copyrighted work to compete against it.  

The suit on file with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York,  alleges that Microsoft and OpenAI singled out the Times because of its wide newsgathering capabilities and digital strength.