Deal roundup
AI data licensing deals per month (based on public announcements)
Quick answer
Counting only publicly announced and independently verifiable deals, AI data licensing activity has run in bursts rather than a smooth trend, with several deals landing in the same week at points in 2024. This count is based strictly on public announcements we could verify and almost certainly understates total deal activity, since many agreements are never announced.
What was reported#
- July 2023: at least 2 verified deals announced — Associated Press-OpenAI and the Shutterstock-OpenAI six-year expansion.
- December 2023: 1 verified deal — Axel Springer-OpenAI.
- February 2024: 2 verified deals — Reddit-Google and Stack Overflow-Google Cloud.
- March 2024: 1 verified deal — Le Monde-OpenAI (announced alongside Prisa Media-OpenAI as a joint event).
- April 2024: 1 verified deal — Financial Times-OpenAI.
- May 2024: 5 verified deals — News Corp-OpenAI, Dotdash Meredith-OpenAI, Reddit-OpenAI, Stack Overflow-OpenAI, The Atlantic-OpenAI and Vox Media-OpenAI (the latter two announced the same day, May 29).
- June 2024: 1 verified deal — Time-OpenAI.
- July 2024: 1 verified deal — Taylor & Francis-Microsoft (publicly reported in detail this month, though the underlying agreement was disclosed by Informa in May).
- August 2024: 1 verified deal — Condé Nast-OpenAI.
- October 2024: 1 verified deal — Hearst-OpenAI.
- November 2024: 1 verified deal — HarperCollins-Microsoft.
- February 2025: 1 verified deal — Guardian Media Group-OpenAI.
- April 2025: 1 verified deal — Washington Post-OpenAI.
- May 2025: 1 verified deal — New York Times-Amazon.
- January 2026: 1 verified deal — Cloudflare acquires Human Native.
- March 2026: 2 verified deals — Wiley-OpenEvidence and Veritone-Washington Post.
- This count reflects only deals we could verify through public announcements; it is not a complete record of every AI data transaction.
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.
- Reuters: Associated Press, OpenAI partner to explore generative AI use in news reuters.com
- Reuters: OpenAI signs content deals with The Atlantic and Vox Media reuters.com
- Cloudflare: Cloudflare Strengthens Content Offering to AI Companies with Acquisition of Human Native cloudflare.com
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