The New York Times and Amazon ink AI licensing deal | TechCrunch
May 29, 2025 - techcrunch.com
The New York Times has reached an agreement to license its editorial content to Amazon for training the tech giant's AI platforms. This deal will allow Amazon to incorporate Times content, including news articles, NYT Cooking, and The Athletic, into various customer experiences, potentially extending to Alexa software on smart speakers. While the terms of the deal remain undisclosed, it marks Amazon's first such agreement and The Times's first generative AI-focused licensing arrangement. This comes nearly two years after The Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft for allegedly using its articles without consent or compensation.
The New York Times emphasized its commitment to ensuring its work is appropriately valued, either through commercial deals or intellectual property rights enforcement. OpenAI has previously signed similar agreements with other publishers, such as The Washington Post and The Guardian. Both OpenAI and Microsoft have denied any wrongdoing in response to The Times's allegations.
Key takeaways:
The New York Times has agreed to license its editorial content to Amazon for AI training purposes.
The agreement includes content from NYT Cooking and The Athletic, and may extend to Alexa software on Amazon's smart speakers.
This is the first generative AI-focused licensing arrangement for The Times, following a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement.
OpenAI has signed similar deals with other publishers, but this is Amazon's first such agreement.
