The New York Times' Big AI Move: First Licensing Deal Lands with Amazon
May 29, 2025 - androidheadlines.com
The New York Times has entered a multi-year AI licensing agreement with Amazon, allowing the e-commerce giant to use its editorial content across various Amazon products, including Alexa. This deal marks The Times' first licensing agreement related to generative AI, enabling Amazon to utilize articles from The Times, NYT Cooking, and The Athletic to train its proprietary AI models. While financial terms were not disclosed, The Times' chief executive emphasized the importance of ensuring proper compensation for high-quality journalism. The collaboration aims to make The Times' content more accessible to Amazon customers and potentially attract new subscribers.
This agreement comes over a year after The Times sued companies like Microsoft and OpenAI for copyright infringement, accusing them of using its articles to train AI models without compensation. The deal with Amazon is notable as it represents The Times' first generative AI licensing arrangement, aligning with similar agreements made by other major media companies like News Corp., The Associated Press, and Axel Springer.
Key takeaways:
The New York Times has entered a multi-year AI licensing deal with Amazon to bring its editorial content to Amazon's customer experiences.
Amazon will use The New York Times content to train its proprietary AI models, marking the paper's first generative AI licensing deal.
The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but it aligns with The Times' principle of ensuring proper compensation for high-quality journalism.
The deal follows a lawsuit by The Times against AI companies like OpenAI for copyright infringement, highlighting the significance of this licensing agreement.
