The New York Times filed lawsuits against Microsoft and OpenAI for unethical use of their content. Microsoft has found a workaround as a solution.
“Publishers will be paid on delivered value, and AI builders gain scalable access to licensed premium content that improves their products,” says Microsoft.
The open web’s design and operations are evolving in parallel with AI’s development. Beforehand, there was an implicit exchange of value- publishers made content accessible, and distribution channels helped users find it.
But this is an AI-first world. The inquiry and the answer get exchanged in a conversation.
Microsoft’s Publisher Content Marketplace (PCM) is being designed for this change.
The AI licensing hub is to enable smooth transactions between publishers and AI companies. Through this, publishers such as Condé Nast will set specific usage terms. The AI organizations can then go through all terms and conditions to set up deals accordingly. And through usage-based reporting, publications will grasp how to set prices for their digital content and data.
PCM will be accessible to publishers of all sizes- from large enterprises to independent publications.
Microsoft’s Marketplace will add to the existing publisher-backed open standard- Really Simple Licensing (RSL). It curates licensing terms into publications to help outline how AI bots should pay to crawl their content. But it’s uncertain how this will align with PCM.
The aim? To ensure the digital media business thrives in the age of AI. Because the AI boom escalated by coast-riding digital content scraped for free, which didn’t seem like a threat at first. But as organic traffic on traditional sources dropped, publications were massively hit.
Now, these AI companies racing to ace AI development must pay for ‘premium’ content. A transaction that benefits the parties involved.
