AI News: OpenAI and News Corp Team Up to Enrich ChatGPT Insights

OpenAI, led by Sam Altman, has signed a deal with News Corp. that grants the AI firm access to journalistic materials from some of the world’s leading media organizations. This partnership is expected to boost the training corpus of OpenAI’s leading chatbot, ChatGPT, with quality news articles.

The agreement, signed on May 22, 2024, allows access to both the current content and the content published in archives such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, MarketWatch, and Barron’s. This is another landmark agreement for OpenAI, following similar arrangements with other large organizations such as the Financial Times and Reddit.

OpenAI-News Corp Partnership

The collaboration between OpenAI and News Corp is expected to be beneficial to both parties. In the case of OpenAI, the availability of large volumes of diverse content enhances the quality of the answers that ChatGPT generates.

On the other hand, News Corp is expected to gain a new source of revenue, which is a big plus for the news industry, which often watches its content being used by tech giants without getting a cut.

Robert Thomson, the CEO of News Corp, underlined the opportunities to establish new benchmarks in the digital space, noting that OpenAI is a principled company that understands the importance of journalism. On the same note, Sam Altman referred to the partnership as a significant step in the advancement of journalism and technology.

Economic Aspects and Industry Reactions

Specific financial aspects are still undisclosed; however, some media sources indicate that the partnership may cost $250 million within five years. This led to an increase of News Corp shares by 4% after the announcement.

However, the deal has attracted controversy from some stakeholders in the practice of journalism. The Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees said that it was signed with no guarantees for journalists amid the AI application. The backdrop includes current legal cases like the ones initiated by The New York Times and a group of newspapers owned by Alden Global Capital against OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright violation.

In the same regard, OpenAI has been keen on reaching out to several publishers in order to address such issues and ensure that it has a legal means of using copyrighted materials. Before the News Corp partnership, OpenAI inked content deals with some external parties such as Axel Springer, Dotdash Meredith, The Financial Times, and The Associated Press, among others. These collaborations are meant to ensure that AI-created content is created ethically and sustainably with respect to the journalism sources that AI relies on.

Read Also: SEC Files Updates For BlackRock, Fidelity, and Other Ethereum ETFs