Deal explainer
The New York Times' first AI licensing deal, with Amazon
Quick answer
In May 2025, The New York Times announced a multiyear licensing deal letting Amazon use Times, NYT Cooking and The Athletic content in products like Alexa and to train Amazon's own AI models. It was the Times's first licensing arrangement focused on generative AI, notable because the paper had sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement in 2023, and the Wall Street Journal later reported the deal pays the Times $20 million to $25 million a year.
What was reported#
- Announced May 29, 2025, the deal licenses content from The New York Times, NYT Cooking and The Athletic to Amazon.
- The New York Times Company described it as its first licensing agreement focused on generative AI technology.
- The agreement covers both real-time display of summaries in products like Alexa and training Amazon's proprietary foundation models.
- The Wall Street Journal reported in July 2025 that the multiyear deal pays the Times $20 million to $25 million per year.
- The deal comes after the Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in 2023 over alleged copyright infringement, a case still ongoing.
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.
- NYT Company: The New York Times Company and Amazon Announce Licensing Agreement investors.nytco.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
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