According to The New York Times, it is proposing publishers deals worth at least $50 million.
The New York Times reports that Apple has begun negotiating with major publishers and news organizations to request permission to use their content to train the generative AI system it is developing. The company does not anticipate receiving free access to their content, however, and The Times claims it is offering them multi-year deals worth at least $50 million for access to their news archives. Apple has been conspicuously absent from the list of companies with their own generative AI product, but it looks like it is looking to change that real soon.
Some of the publishers that Apple reportedly approached are reportedly worried about the consequences of allowing Apple to use their news articles over time; they believe that a broad licensing agreement for their archives could result in legal problems down the road. The publishers are also worried about possible competition that may arise from Apple’s efforts.
However, the iPhone manufacturer also apparently gained their trust by simply asking for permission and demonstrating a willingness to pay. According to The Times, the company’s executives have been debating where to obtain data for the development of generative AI for years, and because of the company’s dedication to privacy, they have been reluctant to use information gathered from the internet.
OpenAI, for example, is facing multiple lawsuits alleging it is misappropriating intellectual property. Two of the lawsuits were filed by nonfiction authors, who claimed that OpenAI and Microsoft have amassed a business “valued into the tens of billions of dollars by taking the combined works of humanity without permission.” Other companies with generative AIs of their own had been accused of stealing content and using it to train their products without express consent from creators and rights holders.