Licensing deals for generative AI

Extracted Attributes

• Primary Drivers

  Copyright legal challenges and enterprise demand for legally safe models

• Market Comparison

  Evolution of music licensing (Napster to Spotify) and stock photography

• Reddit Deal Value

  $25 million to $50 million with Amazon and Apple

• Shutterstock Revenue

  $137 million in 2023 from Data Distribution and Services

• Key Benefit for Publishers

  Revenue, attribution, and access to AI technology

• Key Benefit for AI Developers

  High-quality training data and legal provenance

Timeline

• Associated Press and OpenAI sign one of the first major bilateral licensing deals for AI training. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2023-07-15

• Axel Springer signs a multi-year licensing agreement with OpenAI to provide content from Politico and Business Insider. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2023-12-15

• Reports detail Shutterstock's 6-year deal with OpenAI and Reddit's licensing agreements with Amazon and Apple. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2024-04-20

• The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI reach a landmark 3-year agreement for the Sora video platform and ChatGPT Images. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2024-05-22

• Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon are reported to have significantly increased their licensing activity with publishers over the preceding six months. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2025-01-01

• Industry analysis predicts the emergence of standardized industry consortia and APIs for AI content licensing. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2025-08-15

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of research in computer science that develops and studies methods and software that enable machines to perceive their environment and use learning and intelligence to take actions that maximize their chances of achieving defined goals. High-profile applications of AI include advanced web search engines (e.g., Google Search); recommendation systems (used by YouTube, Amazon, and Netflix); virtual assistants (e.g., Google Assistant, Siri, and Alexa); autonomous vehicles (e.g., Waymo); generative and creative tools (e.g., language models and AI art); and superhuman play and analysis in strategy games (e.g., chess and Go). However, many AI applications are not perceived as AI: "A lot of cutting edge AI has filtered into general applications, often without being called AI because once something becomes useful enough and common enough it's not labeled AI anymore." Various subfields of AI research are centered around particular goals and the use of particular tools. The traditional goals of AI research include learning, reasoning, knowledge representation, planning, natural language processing, perception, and support for robotics. To reach these goals, AI researchers have adapted and integrated a wide range of techniques, including search and mathematical optimization, formal logic, artificial neural networks, and methods based on statistics, operations research, and economics. AI also draws upon psychology, linguistics, philosophy, neuroscience, and other fields. Some companies, such as OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Meta, aim to create artificial general intelligence (AGI) – AI that can complete virtually any cognitive task at least as well as a human. Artificial intelligence was founded as an academic discipline in 1956, and the field went through multiple cycles of optimism throughout its history, followed by periods of disappointment and loss of funding, known as AI winters. Funding and interest vastly increased after 2012 when graphics processing units started being used to accelerate neural networks, and deep learning outperformed previous AI techniques. This growth accelerated further after 2017 with the transformer architecture. In the 2020s, an ongoing period of rapid progress in advanced generative AI became known as the AI boom. Generative AI's ability to create and modify content has led to several unintended consequences and harms. Ethical concerns have been raised about AI's long-term effects and potential existential risks, prompting discussions about regulatory policies to ensure the safety and benefits of the technology.

Web Search Results

• AI Data Licensing Deals - by Alex Izydorczyk - Magis - Substack

  # AI Data Licensing Deals ### Ongoing List of Generative AI Content Licensing Deals Alex Izydorczyk Apr 20, 2024 I have compiled a non-comprehensive list of content licensing deals that have been publicly reported, with a particular focus on interesting details disclosed in SEC filings and earnings transcripts. If I have missed any deals, particularly from public companies that mention such deals in earnings transcripts, analyst days, or SEC filings, please email me and I will add them. [...] + Existing deals with Meta and a 6-year3 deal with OpenAI. + $25-50M deals with Amazon, Apple4 based on statement by CFO + The relevant segment, Data Distribution and Services5, grew from $15.9M in ‘21 to $137M in ‘23, suggesting very roughly ~$100M of already recognized revenue from generative AI licensing. + Shutterstock CEO referenced existing deals with OpenAI and Meta and expressed desire to expand licensing to broader audience in Data Marketplace like Snowflake, AWS, etc.6 Yelp [...] + Previously, for display (not generative AI purposes), WSJ reported Meta was offering publishers 3M17 X (formerly Twitter)

• LLMs, Media Licensing, and the Rise of Generative Engine ...

  + Enterprise clients (banks, governments, pharma) demanded legally safe models. + Vendors realized they couldn’t sell to big clients without clean data provenance. 4. Market Gap Identified — Birth of AI Licensing Ecosystem The industry began recognizing the need for structured licensing deals, mirroring: + Music licensing (Napster → iTunes → Spotify). + Stock photography (Getty, Shutterstock). By late 2023, early deals started: [...] Short Term (2024–2025): Bilateral licensing deals dominate (e.g., OpenAI with Axel Springer, AP). These are proprietary and non-standardized. Medium Term (2025–2027): Industry consortia emerge, establishing APIs and metadata schemas for standardized licensing. Comparable to early financial settlement systems. Long Term (2027+): A mature Content Rights Layer operates as critical infrastructure — an invisible backbone akin to DNS for the internet or SWIFT for banking. [...] 1. Which media outlets and data providers have signed licensing deals with LLM vendors. Example: Associated Press → OpenAI, Axel Springer (Politico, Business Insider, Bild) → OpenAI, Financial Times → OpenAI, Thomson Reuters → Microsoft. This data reveals which publishers now act as privileged knowledge feeders to the most influential AI systems. 2. Which LLMs are using which licensed sources.

• A 2025 timeline of AI deals between publishers and tech companies

  Digiday tracked all the major AI content licensing deals between tech companies and publishers as a wrap in 2024. We’re doing it again for 2025. These agreements typically allow tech companies to use publishers’ content to train large language models (often including paywalled content). In exchange, publishers get attribution for their content surfaced in AI chatbots or search platforms, as well as access to technology that publishers can use to build AI-powered products and features. [...] Meta, Microsoft and Amazon all signed licensing deals with publishers in the last six months. [...] Generative AI # A timeline of the major deals between publishers and AI tech companies in 2025 By Sara Guaglione • January 1, 2026 • Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit A number of tech companies signed their first AI content licensing deals with publishers in 2025. New players in this space means we will likely continue to see more agreements in 2026, as publishers look for ways to make money from their content being used to train AI systems.

• The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI reach landmark agreement ...

  The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI have reached an agreement for Disney to become the first major content licensing partner on Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform, bringing these leaders in creativity and innovation together to unlock new possibilities in imaginative storytelling.

• The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI Reach Agreement to Bring ...

  The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI have reached an agreement for Disney to become the first major content licensing partner on Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform, bringing these leaders in creativity and innovation together to unlock new possibilities in imaginative storytelling. [...] As part of this new, three-year licensing agreement, Sora will be able to generate short, user-prompted social videos that can be viewed and shared by fans, drawing from a set of more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, including costumes, props, vehicles, and iconic environments. In addition, ChatGPT Images will be able to turn a few words by the user into fully generated images in seconds, drawing from the same intellectual property. The