News Corp Denies Reported AI Content Licensing Deal with Google

News Corp has denied a report that it has struck a deal with Google to develop content and products related to artificial intelligence (AI).

“We absolutely do not have an AI content licensing deal with Google, though we do have a number of partnerships with Google across our business,” a News Corp spokesman told PYMNTS Tuesday (April 30) in an email.

Google did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

The Information reported that Google will pay News Corp. between $5 million and $6 million a year to develop such content, extending an existing collaboration between the two companies, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing a paywalled article by The Information that cited unnamed sources.

AI firms have been seeking content to train their chatbots and are looking to partner with new organizations to license their content, according to the Reuters report.

For example, OpenAI has struck deals with the Financial Times and Axel Springer, the report said.

Seeking Alpha, which also reported on The Information’s article, said Tuesday that OpenAI has also signed deals with other publishers, including Le Monde, Prisa Media, the Associated Press, the American Journalism Project and NYU.

OpenAI and Microsoft have also been sued by The New York Times and by Alden Global Capital, which allege in separate suits that the two tech companies illegally used the newspaper publishers’ content to train AI models, according to the Seeking Alpha report.

When OpenAI and Axel Springer announced their licensing deal in December 2023, the companies said the collaboration will provide summaries of Axel Springer content from Politico, Business Insider and Bild in reply to queries asked of OpenAI’s AI tool ChatGPT.

OpenAI and Associated Press reached their agreement in July 2023, with AP saying that OpenAI will license part of the newswire’s archive, while the AP will leverage the AI company’s technology and product expertise.

Days after that announcement, OpenAI said it committed $5 million to the American Journalism Project to support local news with the power of AI. The firm said it would provide the nonprofit and its associated organizations with OpenAI credits and create a studio for local news outlets to try the technology.