News generative AI deals revealed: Who is suing, who is signing?
November 2024: Major Canadian news outlets are taking legal action against OpenAI over copyright infringement. A small group of news publishers, following the lead of The New York Times, have filed lawsuits against OpenAI and other AI companies for unauthorized use of their content. However, many more publishers have chosen to enter into deals with these AI companies. These deals typically involve using publisher content as reference material for user queries in tools like ChatGPT, with promised citations back to the original websites. Additionally, publishers are granting permission for the use of their technology to develop new products.
Legal Actions and Deals
OpenAI has reportedly offered news organizations annual licensing fees ranging from $1 million to $5 million to use their copyrighted content for training its models. Notably, News Corp's deal is valued at over $250 million for a five-year term. On the other hand, Apple has been in talks with publishing giants like Conde Nast, NBC News, and IAC to license their content archives for AI use, although no official agreements have been disclosed publicly.
While many news organizations are currently negotiating deals with OpenAI, some publishers, such as the Mail Online's publisher, are considering legal actions as an option.
Legal Disputes with AI Companies
A coalition of major Canadian news publishers, including CBC/Radio-Canada, Postmedia, and the Toronto Star, have joined forces to sue OpenAI for copyright infringement. These publishers emphasize the importance of protecting their intellectual property and ensuring that all contributors abide by copyright laws.
In response, OpenAI argues that its models are trained using publicly available data and comply with fair use and international copyright standards. Nevertheless, the legal battle continues as prominent publishers like News Corp pursue legal action against AI companies like Perplexity. News Corp has also entered into a partnership with OpenAI.
Mumsnet and Other Legal Actions
UK parenting forum and publisher Mumsnet has initiated legal proceedings against OpenAI for unauthorized scraping of its website content. Founder Justine Roberts highlighted the importance of protecting online content from exploitation by tech giants.
Similarly, non-profit news organization The Center for Investigative Reporting is suing OpenAI and Microsoft for unauthorized use of its content. Eight daily newspapers owned by Alden Global Capital are also taking legal action against OpenAI and Microsoft to uphold their rights over their content.
These legal battles between news publishers and AI companies highlight the ongoing struggle to protect intellectual property rights in the digital age.
