Apple’s AI strategies are no longer novel. The company is reportedly working diligently to keep pace with other tech firms in the competitive next-gen technology arena. An essential aspect for the functionality of AI models is their training, and acquiring extensive datasets is crucial for this purpose. According to reports, Apple aims to source this data from news organizations.
Referring to information from four individuals familiar with the talks, The New York Times states that Apple has been in discussions with significant news and publishing entities in recent weeks. The purpose of these negotiations is to secure their content for the development of generative AI systems.
Allegedly, Apple has proposed multi-year agreements valued at a minimum of $50 million to license archives of news articles. Among the news organizations approached by Apple are Condé Nast, the publisher of Vogue and The New Yorker; NBC News; and IAC, the owner of People, The Daily Beast, and Better Homes and Gardens, as outlined in the report.
What kind of data does Apple aim to utilize?
The report asserted that several executives within the publishing houses expressed apprehension about Apple’s “overly extensive” terms. Initially, the company proposed incorporating the licensing of publishers’ archives of published content.
The sources also informed the publication that Apple was unclear about its plans for applying generative AI to the news industry. Apple aims to avoid extracting information from the internet, partly as a demonstration of its commitment to privacy.
This stands in contrast to other companies that purportedly extract data from the internet to train their models. Reports suggest that these tech behemoths have allegedly utilized copyrighted data without permission to train their AI models, leading to a multitude of copyright infringement lawsuits against them.
Apple, on its part, appears to be adopting a prudent approach in this matter. Those familiar with the situation are optimistic that Apple will successfully negotiate deals with these news publishers.
