As AI copyright battles mount, OpenAI’s deal with a media giant could provide a new framework

AI Insider… OpenAI will pay media powerhouse Axel Springer (Business Insider, Politico) to use its news content in ChatGPT answers and training. The multiyear licensing deal will let the chatbot summarize news stories from Axel Springer’s myriad media brands. ChatGPT will include links to the OG sources to give the sites credit and clicks. The partnership’s expected to bring in big bucks for Axel Springer. FYI: OpenAI also made a deal with AP in July, allowing it to use the news org’s archive for training.

• Interesting timing: Since August, over 500 news publishers (including The New York Times, Reuters, and The Washington Post) have installed software to block their articles from being collected and used in ChatGPTraining.

• Playin’ defense: This year there’ve been several reports that major news publishers were prepping for a case to force AI companies like Alphabet and Microsoft to compensate them for content. Licensing deals could help avoid copyright-infringement suits.

From Jodi Picoult to Getty Images… Big names are getting involved in AI legal battles, which have piled up since ChatGPT’s rollout. In September, famous scribes including John Grisham, George R.R. Martin, and Jodi Picoult sued OpenAI over copyright infringement. In July, Sarah Silverman and others sued OpenAI and Meta. It’s not just books: Getty Images sued Stability AI, alleging it “unlawfully copied and processed millions of images protected by copyright” without a license. Coders are suing AI companies, too, accusing them of “software piracy.”

• Big law: The EU just reached an agreement on its “AI Act,” a historic law that would make AI companies create safeguards against illegally generating content.