Apple In Talks With News Publishers To Train AI: Report

Tech giant Apple has reportedly started discussions with some major news publishers about licensing their news archives and using that information to help train its generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems. The New York Times reported on Friday that Apple is apparently discussing “multiyear deals worth at least $50 million.”

The report, citing people familiar with the discussions, said that Apple has floated multiyear deals to license the archives of news articles. According to the report by the New York Times, the iPhone maker has contacted various news organisations on this matter so far. This includes Condé Nast, NBC News, and IAC. Notably, Condé Nast is the publisher of Vogue and The New Yorker. The report also mentioned that “publishers contacted by Apple were lukewarm on the overture.” Apple or any news organisations have not yet given an official statement on this matter.

It is worth mentioning that while other big tech firms made major announcements regarding generative AI, Apple remained silent about their developments in this sector. Companies, including Google and Meta, have incorporated generative AI into their various products. However, Apple is lagging behind when it comes to AI technology. Macrumors earlier reported that Apple has been testing “Apple GPT,” which is likely to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Bloomberg”s Mark Gurman says that work on AI technology is a priority for Apple. Mark Gurman also reported that Apple is designing an “Ajax” framework for large language models. In May 2023, Apple CEO ‌Tim Cook said that there are a “number of issues that need to be sorted” with the artificial intelligence technology.