Deal tracker
AI data licensing deals, tracked and explained
Quick answer
Every significant publicly reported AI data licensing deal, summarized in plain language with links to the original reporting. SourceX was not a party to these deals — this tracker exists so businesses can see how the market is developing.
Deal explainers
AP and OpenAI: the first major news-AI licensing deal
How the Associated Press licensed part of its news archive to OpenAI in a 2023 deal that set the template for publisher-AI agreements.
Tumblr, WordPress.com and the Automattic AI data deals
What is known about Automattic's reported data-sharing talks with OpenAI and Midjourney covering Tumblr and WordPress.com posts.
Axel Springer and OpenAI's landmark publisher deal
Axel Springer became the first global publisher to strike a deep AI partnership with OpenAI, reportedly worth tens of millions of dollars.
Cloudflare's acquisition of Human Native
Cloudflare bought the UK AI data marketplace Human Native in January 2026 to help publishers price and sell content to AI companies.
Condé Nast and OpenAI's multiyear content deal
Condé Nast's Vogue, The New Yorker, Wired and other titles entered a multiyear licensing deal with OpenAI in August 2024.
Dotdash Meredith's licensing and ad-tech deal with OpenAI
IAC's Dotdash Meredith licensed content from People, Investopedia and other brands to OpenAI while also tying the deal to its ad-targeting technology.
Financial Times and OpenAI content partnership
The FT struck a strategic licensing and product partnership with OpenAI in April 2024, reportedly worth $5 to $10 million.
HarperCollins' AI book-licensing deal with Microsoft
HarperCollins let Microsoft license select nonfiction backlist titles for AI training, paying each opted-in author roughly $2,500 per book.
Hearst's newspaper and magazine deal with OpenAI
Hearst brought more than 20 magazine brands and 40 newspapers, including Cosmopolitan and the San Francisco Chronicle, into OpenAI's products.
Le Monde and OpenAI's French-language partnership
Le Monde became the first French publisher to license content to OpenAI, alongside Spain's Prisa Media, in March 2024.
News Corp's $250 million-plus OpenAI partnership
News Corp's deal with OpenAI, covering the Wall Street Journal and New York Post, was valued at over $250 million by the Wall Street Journal.
Photobucket's plan to license billions of photos to AI companies
Photobucket, the once-dominant image host, began negotiating to license its 13 billion-photo archive to AI companies for training data.
Reddit's roughly $60 million-a-year AI deal with Google
Reddit struck a data-licensing agreement with Google worth about $60 million a year to let Google train AI models on Reddit posts.
Reddit and OpenAI's ChatGPT data partnership
Reddit gave OpenAI access to its Data API in a May 2024 deal that also made OpenAI a Reddit advertising partner.
Shutterstock's six-year data deal with OpenAI
Shutterstock expanded its OpenAI partnership in 2023 into a six-year agreement covering images, video, music and metadata.
Stack Overflow's OverflowAPI partnership with Google Cloud
Stack Overflow launched its OverflowAPI with Google Cloud as the first partner, bringing its Q&A data into Gemini for Google Cloud.
Stack Overflow's OverflowAPI deal with OpenAI
Stack Overflow signed a data partnership with OpenAI in May 2024 to improve ChatGPT's answers to programming questions.
Taylor & Francis's $10 million-plus AI data deal with Microsoft
Academic publisher Taylor & Francis gave Microsoft access to research content for AI training, drawing criticism from authors who weren't consulted.
The Atlantic's content and product deal with OpenAI
The Atlantic signed a strategic content and product partnership with OpenAI in May 2024, alongside Vox Media.
Guardian Media Group's 2025 content partnership with OpenAI
Guardian Media Group joined OpenAI's publisher partners in February 2025, a year after publishing its own AI-use principles.
The New York Times' first AI licensing deal, with Amazon
After suing OpenAI, the New York Times signed its first generative-AI licensing deal with Amazon in May 2025, reportedly worth $20-25 million a year.
The Washington Post's search partnership with OpenAI
The Washington Post joined OpenAI's roster of news partners in April 2025, bringing its reporting into ChatGPT search responses.
Time's 101-year archive licensing deal with OpenAI
Time magazine gave OpenAI access to more than a century of archives in a June 2024 multiyear content partnership.
Veritone's video-licensing deal with The Washington Post
Veritone signed a multi-year agreement to represent The Washington Post's video archive for global licensing, including to AI-era buyers.
Vox Media's strategic content and product deal with OpenAI
Vox Media licensed The Verge, Vox, New York Magazine and other properties to OpenAI in May 2024 while building AI tools of its own.
Wiley's growing portfolio of AI licensing deals
Academic publisher Wiley reported $49 million in fiscal 2026 AI licensing revenue from deals with IQVIA, OpenEvidence, Anthropic and others.
Roundups and analysis
AI data licensing deals grouped by data type
A look at how news text, images, video, books, forum posts and scientific research have each been licensed to AI companies.
AI data licensing deals announced in 2024
A roundup of publicly announced AI content and data licensing deals from 2024, the busiest year yet for publisher-AI agreements.
AI data licensing deals announced in 2025
A roundup of publicly announced AI data licensing deals in 2025, including the Guardian, Washington Post and New York Times' first such deal.
AI data licensing deals announced in 2026
A roundup of publicly announced AI data licensing and acquisition deals so far in 2026, including Cloudflare's purchase of Human Native.
AI data licensing deals per month (based on public announcements)
A month-by-month count of publicly announced AI data licensing deals from mid-2023 through early 2026, based on verifiable public sources.
What do AI data licensing deals typically pay?
A look at the few publicly disclosed AI data licensing deal values, since most companies do not reveal financial terms.
The biggest publicly disclosed AI data licensing deals
Ranking the few AI data licensing deals with confirmed public values, led by News Corp's reported $250 million-plus OpenAI deal.
Which industries are licensing data to AI companies
News publishing, stock imagery, online forums, book publishing and academic research are the clearest industries licensing data to AI firms.
See if your company qualifies
A short company assessment. No data uploads are needed.