OpenAI has struck a new content licensing partnership with Hearst to integrate the latter’s newspaper and magazine content into its artificial intelligence products.
The collaboration will offer ChatGPT’s 200 million weekly users lifestyle content from over 20 magazine brands and more than 40 newspapers, including Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Runner’s World and Women’s Health.
Hearst content available in ChatGPT will feature appropriate citations and direct links, providing transparency and easy access to the original sources. The company’s businesses outside of magazines and newspapers are not included in the partnership.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In a statement, OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap said bringing Hearst’s trusted content into its product will elevate the company’s ability to provide “engaging, reliable information” to its users.
Hearst Newspapers, which has approximately 2,600 employees nationwide, publishes 24 dailies and 52 weeklies.
“As generative AI matures, it’s critical that journalism created by professional journalists be at the heart of all AI products,” Hearst Newspapers president Jeff Johnson said. “This agreement allows the trustworthy and curated content created by Hearst Newspapers’ award-winning journalists to be part of OpenAI’s products like ChatGPT — creating more timely and relevant results.”
Hearst Magazines’ portfolio of more than 25 brands reaches 153 million readers and site visitors each month, including 61% of all millennials and 57% of all Gen Z adults over the age of 18. The company publishes more than 200 magazine editions and 175 websites around the world.
“Our partnership with OpenAI will help us evolve the future of magazine content,” Hearst Magazines president Debi Chirichella added. “This collaboration ensures that our high-quality writing and expertise, cultural and historical context and attribution and credibility are promoted as OpenAI’s products evolve.”
The deal with Hearst follows similar pacts with its rivals Conde Nast and DotDash Meredith, as well as Time, News Corp, Vox Media, The Associated Press, Axel Springer and more.
But not everyone has been on board with OpenAI. The New York Times launched a blockbuster lawsuit against both Microsoft and OpenAI in December 2023, accusing the tech giants of copyright infringement.
Other companies have followed with their own lawsuits, including eight Alden Global Capital-owned newsrooms and digital outlets Raw Story, Alternet and The Intercept.
Leave a Reply