Deal roundup
AI data licensing deals announced in 2025
Quick answer
2025 brought several notable AI licensing deals, including Guardian Media Group's OpenAI partnership in February, The Washington Post's OpenAI partnership in April, and The New York Times' first generative-AI licensing deal, signed with Amazon in May and later reported to pay $20-25 million a year. These deals followed a wave of 2023-2024 agreements and showed even publishers that had sued AI companies beginning to license content.
What was reported#
- Guardian Media Group and OpenAI announced a content partnership on February 14, 2025.
- The Washington Post and OpenAI announced a search-content partnership on April 22, 2025.
- The New York Times and Amazon announced a multiyear licensing deal on May 29, 2025, covering NYT, NYT Cooking and The Athletic content.
- The Wall Street Journal reported in July 2025 that the Times-Amazon deal pays the Times $20 million to $25 million a year.
- OpenAI said by April 2025 it had formed content partnerships with more than 20 news publishers spanning more than 160 outlets.
- The Times-Amazon deal is notable because the Times had sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement in 2023, a case that remained unresolved.
Related deals
SourceX was not a party to these deals. This tracker summarizes public reporting so businesses can see how AI data licensing is developing.
Sources
Public sources, checked 2026-10-09. SourceX is not affiliated with the organizations named.
- OpenAI: The Washington Post partners with OpenAI on search content openai.com
- Reuters: New York Times partners with Amazon for first AI licensing deal reuters.com
- WSJ: Amazon to Pay New York Times at Least $20 Million a Year in AI Deal wsj.com
See if your company qualifies
A short company assessment. No data uploads are needed.