OpenAI Is Paying Dotdash Meredith At Least $16 Million to License Its Content

The artificial intelligence agency OpenAI is paying the digital media firm Dotdash Meredith a minimal of round $16 million per 12 months to license its content material, in accordance with public monetary paperwork from IAC, the father or mother firm of Dotdash Meredith.

The determine is a minimal as a result of it solely displays the “mounted” part of the cost and never the “variable” part, which will likely be calculated sooner or later, IAC chief working and monetary officer Chris Halpin informed analysts on an earnings name final week.

“Should you have a look at Q3 of 2024, licensing income was up about $4.1 million 12 months over 12 months. The lion’s share of that will be pushed by the OpenAI license,” Halpin stated. “In order that’s—on a quarterly foundation—a very good proxy for the income we’re recognizing. After which the variable parts will likely be calculated and acknowledged sooner or later.”

Dotdash Meredith, IAC, and OpenAI declined to remark.

The multi-year partnership between the 2 firms was introduced in Could and is one in all a number of offers that OpenAI has struck with publishers over the past 12 months to coach its large-language fashions on publishers’ content material. 

The AI agency has additionally signed agreements with Axel Springer, Vox Media, Condé Nast, The Atlantic, and The Monetary Occasions, amongst others.

Whereas the Dotdash Meredith tie-up has been broadly reported, the dimensions of the cost has not. In reality, aside from Information Corp., which is receiving as much as $250 million over 5 years to be used of its content material, OpenAI has saved hidden the monetary particulars of its writer partnerships.

The secrecy has spurred each hypothesis and consternation, as publishers seeking to decide the worth of their very own libraries have lacked public comparables. In January, The Data reported that OpenAI was offering publishers between $1 million to $5 million per 12 months.

The dimensions of the funds can also be integral in serving to publishers decide whether or not they wish to pursue a partnership or discover different options. The New York Occasions, as an illustration, has sued OpenAI for copyright infringement.

With out the inclusion of the variable cost, the total worth of the settlement is inconceivable to find out. However taken by itself, the roughly $16 million mounted cost quantities to three.6% of the corporate’s $439 million third-quarter income.