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In recent months, news organizations have teamed up with OpenAI, orchestrating a Faustian bargain in which the cash-strapped media industry would receive a pittance in exchange for the rights to scrape their content and integrate it into ChatGPT and other platforms. Organizations that have made blood pacts include News Corp ( The Wall Street Journal), Financial Times, people magazine publisher Dotdash Meredith, the Associated Press, and now Atlantic and Vox Media.
Atlantic Vox Media quickly confirmed the new deal. Axios First to announce the news.
Atlantic To tell Become OpenAI’s “premium news source” and all quotes will be Atlantic Link to the original content. There are also concerns from publishers that users of AI chatbots may not actually need to access the original source. Perhaps this is a critical step for an industry that is nearing the end of its lifespan. Several Inbound link traffic is better than nothing. But by agreeing to scrape, Atlantic The publication is effectively plunging headfirst into the mire of its own (and media’s) demise. It also launched an experimental “microsite” called Atlantic Labs that will showcase “new products and features to better serve our journalism and our readers.”
Vox Media (publisher of major news sites) Vox, Technology Site The Verge, Sports Blog Network SB Nation Many banners, etc.) It says it will have Similar style attribution and link to that content.
Vox Media plans to use the OpenAI data both in-house and across its public-facing content, specifically to “power” Vox’s The Strategist Gift Scout tool, which helps visitors find products to buy (and helps Vox Media earn affiliate revenue). The data will also be incorporated into the publisher’s in-house advertising platform, promising even better ads that follow users around the internet and learn about the products they want to buy.
There’s no sign yet of either company releasing anything directly created by AI. CNET and Sports Illustrated Neither has said they would remove AI from their content, but the results have been disastrous. AtlanticAt least for the time being, it seems likely that such experiments will be limited to the new Atlantic Labs division.
While many publishers have been quick to embrace AI, not everyone is enthusiastic. The New York Times The company sued both OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement in December, alleging that the companies were using its materials to train models without permission. More recently, it sued eight publications owned by Alden Capital Group, including: Chicago Tribune and New York Daily News, It sued both companies with similar complaints, and at this point it seems its options are to either waste time and money in litigation pursuing OpenAI for rampant intellectual theft, or cut a deal that will make it pocket money in a tough media market.
It’s just last week Atlantic I published a lengthy piece lambasting media organizations for taking pennies from AI intruders in exchange for something far more valuable: Unfortunately, this story (and my moral superiority) will likely become just as outdated in the near future.
Updated May 29, 2024 at 12:20pm: This story has been updated to include details from Vox Media’s official statement on the deal.