New York Times Strikes AI Licensing Deal With Amazon
May 29, 2025 - thewrap.com
The New York Times has entered a licensing agreement with Amazon, allowing the tech company to use its content for AI-related purposes. This multi-year deal enables Amazon to share excerpts of Times coverage through its AI voice assistant, Alexa, and to train its AI models with the newspaper's stories. The agreement also includes content from The Athletic and NYT Cooking. This marks the Times' first AI licensing deal, despite its ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft for unauthorized use of its content. Other media companies, like News Corp., the Associated Press, and Axel Springer, have also made similar AI licensing agreements.
In related developments, Axel Springer's Business Insider announced a 21% staff reduction. This comes as media companies increasingly engage in partnerships to license their content for AI models, with News Corp. expressing satisfaction with its collaboration with OpenAI.
Key takeaways:
The New York Times has entered a licensing deal with Amazon to allow AI-related use of its content, including sharing excerpts via Alexa.
The deal includes content from The Athletic and NYT Cooking, marking the Times' first AI licensing agreement.
The Times is currently suing OpenAI and Microsoft for using its content without consent, contrasting with its agreement with Amazon.
Other media companies like News Corp., The Associated Press, and Axel Springer have also made similar AI content licensing deals.
