The New York Times’ first generative AI deal is with Amazon

The New York Times has struck a multi-year AI licensing deal with Amazon that will bring its “editorial content to a variety of Amazon customer experiences,” the outlet announced on Thursday. Under the agreement, Amazon will include summaries and short excerpts of The Times’ content in products like Alexa, and will also use Times articles to help train its AI models.

The deal comes over a year after The Times sued Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright infringement, accusing the companies of “copying and using millions” of its articles to train their AI models, while depriving the publication of subscription, licensing, advertising, and affiliate revenue. Several other outlets have sued OpenAI on similar grounds, including The Intercept, Raw Story, CBC/Radio-Canada, and the owner of IGN and CNET. Other publishers, like The Atlantic, News Corp, and The Verge parent company Vox Media have struck AI licensing deals.

“The deal is consistent with our long-held principle that high-quality journalism is worth paying for,” Meredith Kopit Levien, the CEO of The New York Times Company, said in a statement to the Times. “It aligns with our deliberate approach to ensuring that our work is valued appropriately, whether through commercial deals or through the enforcement of our intellectual property rights.”