Time, OpenAI sign multi-year content deal

FILE PHOTO: OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

(Reuters) -Time magazine has signed a multi-year content deal with OpenAI that would give the ChatGPT maker access to its archive of news content, the companies said on Thursday.

In response to user queries, the chatbot will cite and link back to the source on Time.com, the companies added in a statement. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Sam Altman-led artificial intelligence firm has signed similar deals over the past few months with the Financial Times, Business Insider-owner Axel Springer, France's Le Monde and Spain's Prisa Media.

While OpenAI will use Time's content to boost and train its products, the New York City-based publication will get access to the AI pioneer's technology to develop new products, the companies said.

"We're partnering with TIME to make it easier for people to access news content through our AI tools," OpenAI's Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap said in a statement.

While some media companies, like the New York Times and The Intercept, have previously sued OpenAI for using their journalism, these content partnerships are essential for training AI models.

These deals can also offer news publishers an avenue to generate revenues, who have historically been excluded from the profits that internet giants generate by distributing their content.

Last year, Meta blocked news sharing on Facebook and Instagram in Canada after the country's Online News Act made internet giants pay for news featured on their platforms.

Separately, Canada and Google had to reach a deal to keep news stories in search results.

The OpenAI-Time deal comes at a time when publishers have raised objections about various AI companies circumventing web standards meant to block content scraping for generative AI.

In May, Microsoft-backed OpenAI signed content and product partnerships with The Atlantic and Vox Media.

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)