News Corp is essentially an AI ‘input company’, chief executive says, after US$150m deal with Meta

Editor's take

News Corp's CEO characterized news organizations as essential "input" for AI development, following a reported $150 million agreement with Meta. This framing highlights the immense value of licensed, high-quality journalistic content in training large language models like Meta's Llama and OpenAI's GPT series, a crucial resource that has previously been scraped without compensation.

The significance lies in the industry's shift towards formalizing revenue streams from AI companies for their content. This move could establish a precedent for other media outlets negotiating with AI developers, potentially altering the economic model of both journalism and AI development, and addressing long-standing concerns about fair compensation for creators of training data.

Future developments to monitor include the specifics of how News Corp's content will be utilized and the terms of other potential deals, such as those reportedly being discussed with OpenAI. The scale of these agreements and the extent to which they address copyright infringement concerns will be critical indicators of the broader industry's trajectory.