Condé Nast and OpenAI have struck a multi-year deal that will allow the AI giant to use content from the media giant’s roster of properties, which includes The New Yorker, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Bon Appetit, and, yes, WIRED. The deal will allow OpenAI to surface stories from these outlets on both ChatGPT and the new SearchGPT prototype.
“It is critical that we reach audiences where they are and embrace new technologies, while ensuring proper attribution and compensation for the use of our intellectual property,” Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch wrote in a company-wide email. Lynch pointed to the current turmoil within the publishing industry while discussing the deal, noting that tech companies have made it harder for publishers to make money, most recently with changes to traditional search.
“Our partnership with OpenAI begins to offset some of that revenue, allowing us to continue protecting and investing in our journalism and creative endeavors,” he wrote.
As OpenAI noted in a blog post announcing the deal, this isn’t the first media company to partner with a generative AI firm. Publishers like The Atlantic, Axel Springer, and TIME have already struck deals, as have platforms like Reddit and Automattic, the owner of WordPress and Tumblr. Most major AI companies have traditionally collected training data by scraping the internet without first licensing copyrighted materials. This has led to a wave of lawsuits against the companies, including from other media outlets like The New York Times, arguing that the practice is unfair — and now, a growing wave of publishers choosing to cooperate with major AI players.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.