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Associated Press licenses part of its news archive to OpenAI

OpenAI licensed part of the Associated Press text archive, and the AP gained access to OpenAI technology and product expertise. Financial terms were not disclosed.

NEW YORK, July 13, 2023 - The Associated Press and OpenAI announced an agreement to share access to select news content and technology. The arrangement lets OpenAI license part of AP's text archive, while AP uses OpenAI's technology and product expertise. Financial terms were not disclosed.1

Terms of the deal

The announcement describes a two-way exchange. OpenAI licenses part of AP's text archive. AP gets access to OpenAI's technology and product expertise as it examines potential use cases for generative AI in news products and services.1 The release gives no price, no term length and no list of what the archive covers. A later AP article on the Google agreement said the OpenAI deal enabled the AI company to license AP's archive to train future versions of its systems, and that its financial terms were not disclosed.2

In the release, Kristin Heitmann, AP's chief revenue officer, said AP supports a framework in which intellectual property is protected and content creators are fairly compensated. OpenAI's chief operating officer, Brad Lightcap, said access to a high-quality, factual text archive would help improve the capabilities of OpenAI's systems.1

Background

AP is a not-for-profit news cooperative that sells its stories to newsrooms worldwide, and it had been looking to diversify its revenue. Its 2023 OpenAI agreement is described by AP's own reporting as the start of a run of similar partnerships between OpenAI and news organizations.2 AP later signed a separate agreement with Google, announced in January 2025, under which Google's Gemini app receives a feed of AP real-time information.2

What it means for data sellers

The AP deal shows that a long-running, well-edited archive has value to model developers apart from any new reporting. It also shows the pattern of a license plus a technology exchange. A seller does not have to price everything in cash, but should be clear about which part of the archive is licensed and for what use.

Sellers should also note what was left unpublished. With no disclosed price or scope, outsiders cannot use the AP agreement as a rate card. Companies weighing a similar sale should expect to negotiate scope, term and attribution from first principles.

This entry is a news summary. SellYourAIData was not involved in the deal.

How the deal came together

  1. AP and OpenAI announced a sharing arrangement. On July 13, 2023 the two organizations said they had agreed to share select news content and technology.
  2. OpenAI took a license to part of the archive. The license covered part of AP's text archive, which OpenAI could use to improve its AI systems.
  3. AP received technology access. AP said it would draw on OpenAI's technology and product expertise as it examined uses of generative AI in news.
  4. Terms stayed private. Neither side published a price or a term length at announcement.

Takeaways for companies with data

  • An archive built over decades can be a licensable asset even when it is not sold as new content.
  • A data deal can include technology and know-how as consideration, not only cash.
  • Early sellers set the template. This was the first major news deal of its kind, and later publishers copied the structure.

Sources

Every numbered reference above points to an entry here. Figures come from these pages as of the date shown at the top of the article. Where a source reports a number it got from unnamed people, the text says so.

  1. AP, Open AI agree to share select news content and technology in new collaboration (The Associated Press, July 2023)
  2. Google signs deal with AP to deliver up-to-date news through its Gemini AI chatbot (The Associated Press, January 2025)

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About the AI Data Deal Tracker

SellYourAIData tracks publicly reported sales and licenses of data to AI companies, with the price, terms and sources for each. Entries are checked against public reporting and updated as deals change. SellYourAIData was not involved in this deal. To ask what your company's data could sell for, get a free valuation. To report a deal, contact us.