UK Media Giants Launch Spur Coalition to Demand Fair AI Licensing for Original Journalism

Guardian joins media coalition to protect original journalism from unpaid use by AI

BBC and Financial Times among those calling for frameworks to help publishers gain control over their content being 'scraped and copied' A coalition of UK media companies including the Guardian has urged industry peers to back global frameworks ensuring AI firms pay for the journalism they use. The news providers are calling on leaders across publishing, broadcasting, media and news to join their newly created group, with the aim of protecting "original journalism" and securing "the long-term sustainability of our industry". The coalition, comprising the Guardian, the BBC, Financial Times, Sky News and Telegraph Media Group (TMG), has been named the Standards for Publisher Usage Rights (Spur). It is seeking the establishment of global licensing frameworks that will ensure AI companies can access high quality journalism for use in products such as chatbots while guaranteeing that publishers retain control of their content and are paid fairly when it is used. An open letter signed by Tim Davie, the BBC director general; the Guardian's chief executive, Anna Bateson; the Sky News executive chair, David Rhodes; the TMG chief executive, Anna Jones; and the FT's chief executive, Jon Slade, warns their industry's business model has been weakened by AI. "Across the industry, our reporting, our archives, our original content, have become foundational training material for AI systems," they wrote. "This material has been scraped, copied and reused with no common standards to enable permission or payment, weakening the economic model that supports journalism." The letter added: "Working across the industry, we can build systems that respect original reporting, uphold public trust, and enable both journalism and AI to thrive." Generative AI models, the term for technology that underpins powerful tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot as well as Google's video generator Veo3, have to be trained on a vast amount of data in order to generate their responses. The main source of this information is the open web, which contains a huge array of data, from the contents of Wikipedia and YouTube to newspaper articles and online book archives. The creative and publishing industries are demanding AI companies seek permission for using that work - and pay them for it. As well as establishing licensing regimes, the coalition aims to support the creation of technical tools that protect intellectual property, enable transparent use of journalistic content and develop shared industry standards. The FT and Guardian have both signed content licensing deals with OpenAI.

Major news brands including the Guardian form new coalition to promote responsible AI licensing

The Guardian joins the BBC, Financial Times, Sky News, and Telegraph Media Group as a founding member of Spur - the Standards for Publisher Usage Rights coalition. Spur aims to establish shared technical standards for how journalistic content is used by AI and promote responsible and sustainable licensing frameworks. More information is available on the Spur coalition website. The open letter in full: We write to you at a pivotal moment for our industry. We invite you - global leaders across publishing, broadcasting, media and news - to join us as founding members of a new coalition: Spur - the Standards for Publisher Usage Rights coalition. Artificial Intelligence is fundamentally reshaping how content is created, distributed, discovered and monetised. We believe we need to come together to protect original journalism and secure the long-term sustainability of our industry. AI brings opportunities for publishers and our audience. Our organisations are already at the forefront of using AI in responsible ways to benefit our audiences. But AI also raises urgent questions about fairness, consent, attribution, transparency and trust. Across the industry, our reporting, our archives, our original content, have become foundational training material for AI systems. This material has been scraped, copied and reused with no common standards to enable permission or payment, weakening the economic model that supports journalism. The lack of transparency about how AI answers are created risks eroding public trust in both the news and the technologies used to access it. Spur's mission is clear: to establish shared technical standards and responsible licensing frameworks that ensure AI developers can access high-quality, reliable journalism in legitimate, responsible and convenient ways, while guaranteeing that publishers retain practical control of their content and receive fair value when it is used. The coalition will: For more than two centuries, media organisations have invested in journalism and newsgathering that underpin informed, connected societies. Our work strengthens democracy, empowers citizens, and holds those in power to account. This contribution rests not only on our reach, but on the standards that sustain it: editorial accuracy, accountability and trust. Trust earned over decades. This is a global challenge, and Spur's ambition is to be a global coalition. Working across the industry, we can build systems that respect original reporting, uphold public trust, and enable both journalism and AI to thrive. Together, we will work with tech companies to adopt responsible, rights-cleared pathways to journalistic content, and with policymakers to build a modern regulatory framework that protects publisher rights and sets clear expectations for responsible AI development. Our goal is to help shape a market that rewards original reporting and supports responsible AI innovation. We look forward to hearing from you. To learn more or to express interest in joining the coalition, contact [email protected]. Guardian Media Group is one of the world's largest and most-trusted quality newsbrands, publisher of the Guardian, theguardian.com and the Guardian app. Founded over 200 years ago, the Guardian now serves audiences through five editions: Australia, Europe, International, UK and US. With no billionaire owner, the Guardian is renowned for its fearless investigative journalism, holding power to account and amplifying the stories that need to be told. Its independent ownership structure means it is free from political or commercial influence. Today, millions of people worldwide choose the Guardian's journalism every day and more than two million readers across 180 countries have supported the Guardian's work. Audiences can listen to the Guardian's top-rated podcasts, watch its award-winning documentaries and interact with its growing digital portfolio, from a premium live news app to the recipe app Feast.

Sky News joins media leaders to drive push for AI standards to 'protect original journalism'

A coalition of five major British outlets is warning that AI's use of news content without a common standard to enable fair use is "weakening the economic model that supports journalism", and urging others to join their new alliance. Sky News has joined some of the biggest news outlets in the UK in seeking to build a coalition of broadcasters and publishers to set protocols for AI's fair use of their material. The founding members - the Financial Times, The Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, the BBC and Sky News - are calling for a shared standard to "protect original journalism". In an open letter released on Thursday, the outlets outlined the goal of a framework that balances the needs of AI developers to access high-quality journalism and the need for news platforms to retain practical control of their content. The founding members are calling on other news publishers and broadcasters to join them, with the letter addressed to other leaders in global media. The alliance, called the Standards for Publisher Usage Rights coalition (SPUR), said news content has become "foundational" training material for AI systems but the lack of standards to enable payment or permission posed a risk to the sector. "Artificial Intelligence is fundamentally reshaping how content is created, distributed, discovered and monetised," the joint letter said. "We believe we need to come together to protect original journalism and secure the long-term sustainability of our industry." The letter outlining SPUR's mission was signed by Sky News chairman David Rhodes; Telegraph Media Group chief executive Anna Jones; Financial Times chief executive Jon Slade; The Guardian chief executive Anna Bateson; and BBC director-general Tim Davie. SPUR said its goals were to work with tech companies and policy-makers to build a framework to "shape a market that rewards original reporting and supports responsible AI innovation". "AI brings opportunities for publishers and our audience," the letter said. "Our organisations are already at the forefront of using AI in responsible ways to benefit our audiences. "But AI also raises urgent questions about fairness, consent, attribution, transparency and trust." Read more from Sky News: AI is developing so fast it is becoming hard to measure, experts say Police still using AI tool despite inaccurate evidence in fan ban SPUR said it would develop shared industry standards that allow "original journalism to be used sustainably", identify gaps in technical tools needed to "protect intellectual property and support their creation", and enable the transparent use of news content. The coalition will also reduce friction in licensing, ensure that high-value content can be accessed through "rights cleared, accountable channels", and evaluate existing industry infrastructure, including assessing where new approaches are needed. It says news content "has been scraped, copied and reused with no common standards to enable permission or payment, weakening the economic model that supports journalism. "The lack of transparency about how AI answers are creating risks eroding public trust in both the news and the technologies used to access it." It also spelled out its ambitions to become a global coalition, acknowledging the widespread challenges posed by the AI innovation to news organisations all over the world.

U.K. Media Giants, Including BBC and Sky, Form AI Publishing Rights Coalition, Ask Global Leaders to Join to "Protect Original Journalism"

Netflix's 'Pride and Prejudice' Series Teaser Gives Us First Look at Emma Corrin and Jack Lowden as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy U.K. media bosses have formed a coalition over AI publishing rights and penned an open letter pleading with fellow global leaders to join them. Outgoing director-general at the BBC Tim Davie, Sky News executive chairman David Rhodes, CEO at the Telegraph Media Group Anna Jones, CEO of The Guardian Anna Bateson, and CEO of the Financial Times Jon Slade published the letter on Thursday, inviting others to join SPUR -- the Standards for Publisher Usage Rights coalition. "We write to you at a pivotal moment for our industry. Artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping how content is created, distributed, discovered and monetised," the letter began. "We believe we need to come together to protect original journalism and secure the long-term sustainability of our industry." "AI brings opportunities for publishers and our audience," said the SPUR members. "Our organisations are already at the forefront of using AI in responsible ways to benefit our audiences. But AI also raises urgent questions about fairness, consent, attribution, transparency and trust." Across the industry, they say, "our reporting, our archives, our original content, have become foundational training material for AI systems." This material has been "scraped, copied and reused with no common standards to enable permission or payment, weakening the economic model that supports journalism." The lack of transparency about how AI answers are created "risks eroding public trust in both the news and the technologies used to access it," they add. The SPUR mission is to establish shared technical standards and licensing frameworks that ensure AI developers can access high-quality, reliable journalism in "legitimate, responsible and convenient ways," while guaranteeing publishers "retrain practical control of their content." They vow to "bridge the gap" between publishers and AI developers, and ensure content can be accessed through rights-cleared, accountable channels. The letter calls the issue "a global challenge, and SPUR's ambition is to be a global coalition."