“What might be good for the parties involved isn’t necessarily beneficial to either industry, let alone society at large,” argues Reuter's researcher Dr Felix Simon.

2024 has been deal-making time for AI companies and news publishers. The Financial Times, Conde Nast, the Texas Tribune, Der Spiegel – according to data from the Tow Center at Columbia University at least 26 international publishers (depending on how you count) have struck licensing deals with (at times several) AI companies such as OpenAI, Microsoft and Perplexity since the start of the year.