OpenAI and the Financial Times aim to integrate FT journalism into their AI models for more accurate and reliable information.
OpenAI, a research firm specializing in artificial intelligence (AI), and the Financial Times (FT), a daily newspaper based in the United Kingdom, have formalized a “strategic partnership.”
An announcement on April 29 of the deal stipulates that the companies will utilize AI to create new products and features for FT consumers.
The collaboration will also provide users of OpenAI’s ChatGPT AI chatbot access to a limited selection of FT article summaries, quotations, and links.
The integration aimed to improve the chatbot’s access to credible, real-time information — a subject that has generated considerable controversy in artificial intelligence and media.
On April 29, an Austrian advocacy group lodged a privacy complaint against OpenAI, alleging that its chatbot was delivering erroneous information and potentially violating data laws of the European Union.
The FT announced earlier this year that it had also acquired the enterprise version of ChatGPT, which provides “productivity and creativity gains” access to all its employees.
Sam Altman, the chief executive officer of OpenAI, is reportedly actively promoting ChatGPT’s enterprise offerings to Fortune 500 organizations.
The CEO of the FT Group, John Riddin, characterized the agreement as “critical” in several respects, including its pioneering role in “how people access and utilize information.”
“It’s right, of course, that AI platforms pay publishers for the use of their material. […] It’s clearly in the interests of users that these products contain reliable sources.”
This is one of numerous partnerships involving the media that OpenAI has initiated within the last half-year. In March, the AI developer partnered with Spanish Prisa Media and French publisher Le Monde to supply ChatGPT with French and Spanish news content.
OpenAI disclosed a partnership with Axel Springer, a prominent German media conglomerate, in December 2023. In early 2024, the organization disclosed that it was engaging in discussions with major American media organizations, including CNN, Fox, and Time, to secure news content licensing.
Even with its prosperous collaborations with global media behemoths, the organization has also encountered legal action from media organizations.
The New York Times initiated legal proceedings against OpenAI in December 2023, charging that the company used millions of NYT articles to train its chatbots.
Although both parties have moved to dismiss the claims made by the other since the lawsuit’s inception, it is still active.
However, OpenAI’s recent actions, which involve collaborating with the Associated Press and the American Journalism Project to support local news initiatives, indicate the company’s intention to obtain the necessary authorizations in the media industry.
