OpenAI Partners with Hearst: A Game-Changing Move in AI-Powered Content Delivery

Here's Why OpenAI's Deal with Hearst Should Scare Google

The Journal notes that the terms of the deal aren't disclosed. And why would they be? OpenAI is technically still a startup, albeit a giant one, and it doesn't want to give away too many business secrets. We can speculate about the number of zeros after the dollar sign, of course, but the amount going into Hearst's bank account almost doesn't matter. That's because it's what this deal signifies that's important. OpenAI will have access to millions of words, photos and other content from Hearst's vast publishing archive. Hearst will see its content "surfaced" inside ChatGPT when users search for a relevant topic -- with citations and direct links so that when a user clicks on a link, they'll be taken to a Hearst site and thus could be shown ads, boosting revenues. OpenAI, by including this material inside its chatbot, helps keep ChatGPT useful and up to date for users, and thus boosts its revenues. Both companies use business jargon to describe this mutual gain, noting the deal will "enhance the utility and reach" of their offerings, the paper says. Interestingly, the Journal also quotes Hearst Newspapers President Jeff Johnson on the complicated topic of AI "theft" of journalistic IP -- a tricky issue that has seen newspapers, notably the New York Times, sue the AI maker. Johnson explained how important it was that journalism by "professional journalists" remain at the forefront of AI products' output. Is this simply a case of "if you can't beat 'em, sell it to 'em?"

OpenAI partners with Hearst, now has more content to train AI

According to an exclusive report by Axios on Monday, OpenAI has inked a content partnership with Hearst, one of the nation's largest newspaper and magazine conglomerates. The deal adds Hearst to the list of publishers collaborating with OpenAI, which already includes Condé Nast and Dotdash Meredith -- competitors in the magazine industry. The partnership will allow OpenAI to incorporate content from over 40 of Hearst's local newspapers, including notable publications like the Houston Chronicle and San Francisco Chronicle. It will also include material from more than 20 of Hearst's magazine brands, such as Esquire, Cosmopolitan, and Women's Health. This content will be integrated into OpenAI's products, including ChatGPT, providing more depth and diversity to the AI's responses. As with previous publisher agreements, OpenAI has confirmed that content used to generate responses in ChatGPT will come with "appropriate citations and direct links" to the original Hearst sources. While financial specifics of the deal weren't disclosed, it's speculated that Hearst is receiving substantial compensation, potentially millions, for licensing its intellectual property. Additionally, OpenAI confirmed that Hearst would receive credits to leverage its AI technology. Jeff Johnson, president of Hearst Newspapers, noted, "This agreement allows the trustworthy and curated content created by Hearst Newspapers' award-winning journalists to be part of OpenAI's products like ChatGPT -- creating more timely and relevant results." Debi Chirichella, president of Hearst Magazines, added, "Our partnership with OpenAI will help us evolve the future of magazine content." Axios reports that these partnerships are moving away from providing broad training data for large language models (LLMs) toward more targeted use cases where news publishers maintain greater leverage. The approach now favors Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), a process where AI models access smaller, vetted datasets in real-time to deliver more accurate and relevant responses, especially for queries related to news or cultural events. This is the same strategy OpenAI is employing through its partnerships, including this recent agreement with Hearst.

OpenAI announces content deal with Hearst, including content from Cosmopolitan, Esquire and the San Francisco Chronicle

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, attends the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 18, 2024. OpenAI announced a partnership with Hearst, the media conglomerate behind outlets like the Houston Chronicle, the San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Elle and others. Under the partnership, OpenAI's products, such as ChatGPT and SearchGPT, will be able to display content from more than 20 magazine brands and more than 40 newspapers, the company's announced on Tuesday. "Our partnership with OpenAI will help us evolve the future of magazine content," Hearst Magazines President Debi Chirichella said in a statement. As part of the agreement, Hearst content in ChatGPT will include appropriate citations and link users to the original Hearst sources, the media company said in the announcement. Heart's non-magazine and newspaper businesses will not be included in the partnership. The deal is the latest in a recent trend of media outlets entering into content partnerships with AI startups. OpenAI announced a similar partnership in August with Condé Nast, which owns media brands such as Vogue, The New Yorker, GQ, Vanity Fair and Wired. Perplexity AI debuted a revenue-sharing model for publishers in July following more than a month of plagiarism accusations. Media outlets and content platforms including Fortune, Time, Entrepreneur, The Texas Tribune, Der Spiegel and WordPress.com were the first to join Perplexity AI's "Publishers Program." OpenAI and Time announced a "multi-year content deal" in June that will allow OpenAI to access current and archived articles from more than 100 years of the magazine's history. OpenAI will be able to display Time's content within its ChatGPT chatbot in response to user questions, according to the magazine, and use Time's content "to enhance its products," or, likely, to train its AI models. In May, OpenAI announced a partnership with News Corp., allowing OpenAI to access current and archived articles from The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, Barron's, the New York Post and other publications. Reddit also announced a deal with OpenAI in May to allow the ChatGPT maker to train its AI models on the social media company's content. Other news publications and media outlets are aggressively trying to protect their businesses as AI-generated content becomes more prevalent. The Center for Investigative Reporting, the country's oldest nonprofit newsroom, sued OpenAI and its lead backer Microsoft in federal court in June for alleged copyright infringement, following similar suits from publications including The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and the New York Daily News. The New York Times in December filed a suit against Microsoft and OpenAI, alleging intellectual property violations related to its journalistic content appearing in ChatGPT training data. The newspaper said it seeks to hold Microsoft and OpenAI accountable for "billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages" related to the "unlawful copying and use of the Times's uniquely valuable works," according to a filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. OpenAI disagreed with the publication's characterization of events.

OpenAI Products to Integrate Hearst Newspaper and Magazine Content | PYMNTS.com

Hearst and OpenAI have formed a content partnership that will see Hearst's newspaper and domestic magazine content integrated into OpenAI's generative artificial intelligence (AI) products, including ChatGPT. The collaboration will give ChatGPT's 200 million weekly users access to content from Hearst publications like the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Runner's World and Women's Health -- a total of more than 20 magazines and 40 newspapers -- the companies said in a Tuesday (Oct. 8) press release. "This agreement allows the trustworthy and curated content created by Hearst Newspapers' award-winning journalists to be part of OpenAI's products like ChatGPT -- creating more timely and relevant results," Hearst Newspapers President Jeff Johnson said in the release. It will also help "evolve the future of magazine content," Hearst Magazines President Debi Chirichella said in the release. "This collaboration ensures that our high-quality writing and expertise, cultural and historical context and attribution and credibility are promoted as OpenAI's products evolve," Chirichella said. Users of ChatGPT will find transparency and easy access to the original Hearst sources, as the Hearst content will include appropriate citations and direct links, according to the release. "Bringing Hearst's trusted content into our products elevates our ability to provide engaging, reliable information to our users," OpenAI Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap said in the release. In an earlier, separate deal, OpenAI and Time magazine announced a multi-year content partnership in June. The tie-up will give OpenAI access to Time's current and past content from its 101-year-old archive, allowing the tech firm to cite the publication as a source of information in response to user queries on ChatGPT, and will give Time access to OpenAI's technology, enabling it to develop new products for its readers. In May, OpenAI signed a deal with News Corp., giving the AI company access to current and archived content from news publications like The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch and the New York Post. OpenAI is also facing lawsuits from other publishers. It was reported in April that eight newspapers owned by Alden Global Capital's MediaNews Group sued OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging that the tech companies used the newspapers' content to train AI models. In December 2023, The New York Times filed a lawsuit against Microsoft and OpenAI, alleging copyright infringement and claiming the tech companies used its content without permission to develop their AI products.

OpenAI will bring Cosmopolitan publisher Hearst's content to ChatGPT

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Is the future of written media -- and potentially imagery and videos, too -- going to be primarily surfaced to us through ChatGPT? It's not out of the question at the rate OpenAI is going. At the very least, the $157-billion dollar valued AI unicorn -- fresh off the launch of its new Canvas feature for ChatGPT and a record-setting $6.6 billion fundraising round -- is making damn well sure it has most of the leading U.S. magazine and text-based news publishers entered into content licensing agreements with it. These enable OpenAI to train on, or at least serve up, vast archives of prior written articles, photos, videos and other journalistic/editorial materials, through ChatGPT, SearchGPT and other AI products, potentially as truncated summaries. The latest major American media firm to join with OpenAI is Hearst, the eponymous media company famed for its "yellow journalism" founder William Randolph Hearst (who helped beat the drum for the U.S. to enter the Spanish-American War as well as demonized marijuana, and was memorably fictionalized by Citizen Kane's Charles Foster Kane) which is now perhaps best known as the publisher of Cosmopolitan, the sex and lifestyle magazine aimed at young women, as well as Esquire, Elle, Car & Driver, Country Living, Good Housekeeping, Popular Mechanics and many more. In total, Hearst operates 25 brands in the U.S., 175 websites and more than 200 magazine editions worldwide, according to its media page. However, OpenAI will be specifically surfacing "curated content" from more than 20 magazine brands and over 40 newspapers, including well-known titles such as Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, ELLE, and Women's Health. The content will be clearly attributed, with appropriate citations and direct links to Hearst's original sources, ensuring transparency, according to the brands. "Hearst's other businesses outside of magazines and newspapers are not included in this partnership," reads a release jointly published on Hearst's and OpenAI's websites. It's unclear whether or not the company will be training its models specifically on Hearst content -- or merely piping said content through to end users of ChatGPT and other products. I've reached out to an OpenAI spokesperson for clarity and will update when I hear back. Hearst now joins the long and growing list of media publishers that have struck content licensing deals with OpenAI. Among the many that have forged deals with OpenAI include: These partnerships represent OpenAI's broader ambition to collaborate with established media brands and elevate the quality of content provided through its AI systems. With Hearst's integration, OpenAI continues to expand its network of trusted content providers, ensuring users of its AI products, like ChatGPT, have access to reliable information across a wide range of topics. What the executives are saying it means Jeff Johnson, President of Hearst Newspapers, emphasized the critical role that professional journalism plays in the evolution of AI. "As generative AI matures, it's critical that journalism created by professional journalists be at the heart of all AI products," he said, underscoring the importance of integrating trustworthy, curated content into these platforms. Debi Chirichella, President of Hearst Magazines, echoed this sentiment, noting that the partnership allows Hearst to help shape the future of magazine content while preserving the credibility and high standards of the company's journalism. These deals signal a growing trend of cooperation between tech companies and traditional publishers as both industries adapt to the changes brought about by advances in AI. While OpenAI's partnerships offer media companies access to cutting-edge technology and the opportunity to reach larger audiences, they also raise questions about the long-term impact on the future of publishing. Fears of OpenAI swallowing U.S. journalism and editorial print media whole? Some critics argue that licensing content to AI platforms could potentially lead to competition, as AI systems improve and become more capable of generating content that rivals traditional journalism. I myself, as a journalist whose work was undoubtedly scraped and trained by many AI models (and used for lots of other things of which I had no control over or say in), voiced my own hesitation about media publishers moving so quickly to ink deals with OpenAI. These concerns were amplified in recent legal actions, such as the lawsuit filed by The New York Times against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging copyright infringement in the development of AI models. The case remains in court for now, and NYT remains one of an increasingly few holdouts who have yet to settle with or strike a deal with OpenAI to license their content. Despite these concerns, publishers like Hearst, Condé Nast, and Vox Media are actively embracing AI as a means of staying competitive in an increasingly digital landscape. As Chirichella pointed out, Hearst's partnership with OpenAI is not only about delivering their high-quality content to a new audience but also about preserving the cultural and historical context that defines their publications. This collaboration, she said, "ensures that our high-quality writing and expertise, cultural and historical context and attribution and credibility are promoted as OpenAI's products evolve." For OpenAI, these partnerships with major media brands enhance its ability to deliver reliable, engaging content to its users, aligning with the company's stated goal of building AI products that provide trustworthy and relevant information. As Brad Lightcap, COO of OpenAI, explained, bringing Hearst's content into ChatGPT elevates the platform's value to users, particularly as AI becomes an increasingly common tool for consuming and interacting with news and information.

OpenAI partners with Cosmopolitan and Elle publisher Hearst

ChatGPT will provide citations and direct links to the company's content. Hearst has become the latest major US publisher to sign an agreement to license its content to ChatGPT creator OpenAI. As part of a , content from more than 60 Hearst-owned publications will appear in ChatGPT and other OpenAI products. Some of the publisher's more notable properties include Esquire, Cosmopolitan and Elle. It also owns newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle. When Hearst content appears in ChatGPT, the software will provide citations and direct links. The organizations did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement. Unlike the partnership OpenAI in May, its deal with Hearst doesn't appear to include a plan for the two firms to collaborate on ad tech. "As generative AI matures, it's critical that journalism created by professional journalists be at the heart of all AI products," said Jeff Johnson, president of Hearst's Newspapers unit. "This agreement allows the trustworthy and curated content created by Hearst Newspapers' award-winning journalists to be part of OpenAI's products like ChatGPT -- creating more timely and relevant results." The announcement comes less than a week after news broke that OpenAI had recently raised a in new venture capital funding. Since the start of 2024, OpenAI has signed licensing agreements with and Condé Nast, the owner of publications like Vogue, The New Yorker and Wired. At the same time, not every publisher has been so keen to work with the AI giant. At the end of last year, The New York Times , with Alden Capital Group, the owner of publications like The Chicago Tribune and New York Daily News, later .

Exclusive: OpenAI, Hearst strike content deal

Zoom in: The deal allows OpenAI to integrate content from more than 40 of Hearst's local newspapers -- including the Houston Chronicle and San Francisco Chronicle -- as well as content from more than 20 of its magazine brands, such as Esquire, Cosmopolitan and Women's Health, into OpenAI's products, such as ChatGPT. What they're saying: "This agreement allows the trustworthy and curated content created by Hearst Newspapers' award-winning journalists to be part of OpenAI's products like ChatGPT -- creating more timely and relevant results," Hearst Newspapers president Jeff Johnson said. The big picture: Deals between the tech and news industries over AI have mostly shifted from providing broad training for large language models (LLMs) to addressing narrower use cases, where news publishers may have more leverage. What to watch: Some publishers stopped blocking generative AI bots from crawling their sites as soon as they struck content-sharing deals, but others continue to block those bots even after deals have been struck, a recent Wired analysis found.

OpenAI, Hearst Strike Deal to Bring News Content to ChatGPT

OpenAI and Hearst Communications Inc. have struck a deal to bring content from the publisher's suite of magazines and newspapers into chatbot ChatGPT, adding to a long list of partnerships the artificial intelligence startup has inked with media companies. As part of the agreement, which was announced on Tuesday, Hearst will license content from Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Elle and more than 40 newspapers for use across OpenAI's products. Hearst's content will appear in ChatGPT with attribution to provide "transparency and easy access to the original Hearst sources," the companies said.

OpenAI Partners With Hearst for Integrating Lifestyle Content into ChatGPT

"Bringing Hearst's trusted content into our products elevates our ability to provide engaging, reliable information to our users," OpenAI's COO on the partnership Aimed at enhancing the quality and variety of information available in OpenAI announces partnership with Hearst. This collaboration is set to integrate Hearst's newspaper and magazine content into ChatGPT, benefiting its extensive user base of 200 million weekly users. Under this partnership, OpenAI will feature content from over 20 Hearst magazine brands and more than 40 newspapers including notable titles like the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire, and Cosmopolitan. Users will now have access to a diverse range of topics, from local news to lifestyle, fashion, health, fitness and automotive insights. The announcement came officially on OpenAI's X handle where it received excitement and disinterest from its users. "As generative AI matures, it's critical that journalism created by professional journalists be at the heart of all AI products," stated Jeff Johnson, President of Hearst Newspapers. He emphasised the importance of integrating trustworthy content to ensure that OpenAI's offerings remain relevant and informative. Debi Chirichella, President of Hearst Magazines, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration, stating, "Our partnership with OpenAI will help us evolve the future of magazine content. This agreement ensures that our high-quality writing and expertise are promoted as OpenAI's products evolve." OpenAI's COO, Brad Lightcap, also underscored the significance of this partnership: "Bringing Hearst's trusted content into our products elevates our ability to provide engaging, reliable information to our users." Earlier this year, OpenAI also entered into a multi-year content partnership with TIME to integrate TIME's 100 year journalism archive into ChatGPT. These partnerships with publications are going to make information from said publication available on AI platforms finding its way into responding to prompts.

OpenAI Inks Deal With Hearst, Marking Another Major Media Partnership

A Blurry Line Between Managers and Agents Is at the Center of CAA's Legal War OpenAI is partnering with Hearst, one of the nation's largest owners of newspaper and magazine content. The collaboration, announced on Tuesday, spans over 20 magazine brands and 40 newspapers, becoming one of the company's most sizable media partnerships. Included in the agreement will be content from the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Runner's World and Women's Health. OpenAI has been sued by several publishers and other copyright holders in lawsuits accusing it of pilfering their work without compensation and consent to train its technology. It's turned to striking content deals with other media companies, which are faced with the possibility of having their archives used by the company regardless of reaching agreements. In January, The New York Times sued over allegations that its articles are used in ChatGPT's answers. In a statement, Hearst Magazines President Debi Chirichella said the partnership will "help us evolve the future of magazine content." She added, "This collaboration ensures that our high-quality writing and expertise, cultural and historical context and attribution and credibility are promoted as OpenAI's products evolve." Under the deal, Hearst content used to answer queries in ChatGPT will "feature appropriate citations and direct links." OpenAI said that this will provide "transparency and easy access to the original" sources. It was reached after the AI company closed a $6.6 billion funding round valuing it at $157 billion. Further terms weren't disclosed. "Bringing Hearst's trusted content into our products elevates our ability to provide engaging, reliable information to our users," said OpenAI chief operating officer Brad Lightcap in a statement. Media organizations that have reached similar arrangement with OpenAI include Axel Springer, owner of Politico and Business Insider, News Corp., the Associated Press, the Financial Times, Vox Media and The Atlantic. "As generative AI matures, it's critical that journalism created by professional journalists be at the heart of all AI products," said Hearst Newspapers President Jeff Johnson. "This agreement allows the trustworthy and curated content created by Hearst Newspapers' award-winning journalists to be part of OpenAI's products like ChatGPT -- creating more timely and relevant results." At the forefront of copyright litigation between OpenAI and publishers are The New York Times and a coalition of eight daily newspapers -- The New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun Sentinel, San Jose Mercury News, Denver Post, Orange County Register and St. Paul Pioneer Press -- owned by Alden Global Capital. The company maintains its use of content across the internet to power its AI system constitutes fair use, which allows for utilization of copyrighted works under certain circumstances.

OpenAI & Hearst Collaborate: News Content Comes to ChatGPT

The content will be embedded in ChatGPT, providing users with access to professionally curated journalism all through the platform. Crucially, the content will also carry proper attribution so that people can find the original sources easily. Jeff Johnson, President of Hearst Newspapers, concurred that professional journalism must be part of AI products. "As generative AI matures, it is essential that journalism produced by professional journalists sits at the heart of all AI products," he said. He added that this collaboration will enable "trustworthy and curated content" from the "star staff journalists" of Hearst. This will make ChatGPT's responses timelier and more relevant to users.

OpenAI Partners with Hearst for Expanded AI Content Integration

OpenAI secures a USD 4 billion credit line and raises USD 6.6 billion, reaching a USD 157 billion valuation. US-based media company Hearst has announced a new partnership with OpenAI, integrating content from its newspapers and magazines into OpenAI's platforms, including ChatGPT. The collaboration will feature journalism from over 20 magazine brands, such as Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Runner's World, and more than 40 newspapers like the Houston Chronicle and San Francisco Chronicle. Also Read: OpenAI's Content Partnerships with Media So Far in 2024 OpenAI will incorporate content from these brands, including the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Runner's World, Women's Health, and others, into its advanced AI products, both companies said in a statement on Tuesday. This integration aims to enrich ChatGPT's 200 million weekly users with high-quality content across local news, fashion, health, fitness, automotive, and lifestyle topics. Users will also have access to citations and direct links to original sources for greater transparency. "As generative AI matures, it's critical that journalism created by professional journalists be at the heart of all AI products," said Hearst Newspapers President Jeff Johnson. "This agreement allows the trustworthy and curated content created by Hearst Newspapers' award-winning journalists to be part of OpenAI's products like ChatGPT -- creating more timely and relevant results." "Our partnership with OpenAI will help us evolve the future of magazine content," said Hearst Magazines President Debi Chirichella. "This collaboration ensures that our high-quality writing and expertise, cultural and historical context and attribution and credibility are promoted as OpenAI's products evolve." "Bringing Hearst's trusted content into our products elevates our ability to provide engaging, reliable information to our users," said Brad Lightcap, COO, OpenAI. Hearst's businesses outside of magazines and newspapers remain outside the scope of this agreement, the company said. On Wednesday, OpenAI announced that the company is expanding its global presence with the opening of offices in New York City, Seattle, Paris, Brussels, and Singapore, adding to its existing offices in San Francisco, London, Dublin, and Tokyo. Also Read: OpenAI Raises USD 6.6 Billion to Accelerate AI Research and Expansion In another development, OpenAI has received one of the first engineering builds of the DGX B200 from Nvidia. OpenAI thanked Nvidia for delivering one of the first builds at the company's doorstep in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on October 8. Nvidia's DGX B200 is a high-performance computing system designed specifically for AI workloads. Earlier this month, OpenAI raised USD 6.6 billion in cash and secured a USD 4 billion credit line, propelling the company to a reported USD 157 billion valuation.