OpenAI Signs Consecutive News Content Usage Agreements... "Resolving Copyright Violation Controversies"

OpenAI, the developer of the generative artificial intelligence (AI) 'ChatGPT,' is signing news content usage agreements with media companies one after another.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 13th (local time), OpenAI announced that it had signed a news usage agreement with the multinational media group Axel Springer.

Axel Springer is a media company that owns the American political news outlet Politico, the economic news outlet Business Insider, as well as Germany's Bild and Die Welt.

Through this agreement, OpenAI will be able to use the content from these media outlets to train ChatGPT to generate answers to users' questions. To enhance the transparency of ChatGPT's responses, sources and links will also be included. OpenAI will pay the media companies accordingly.

Earlier, in July, OpenAI signed a licensing agreement with the global news agency AP News to use the company's news articles generated since 1985. In the same month, OpenAI also signed a $5 million contract with the American Journalism Project, an organization supporting local media.

OpenAI's consecutive news content usage agreements with media companies are interpreted as measures to resolve copyright infringement controversies related to the content used for training ChatGPT. Previously, writers including Sarah Silverman filed lawsuits against OpenAI, claiming that their works were used without permission in AI training. Margaret Atwood and James Patterson, among others, also sent open letters to major AI companies demanding prior permission and payment if their works are used for AI training.