OpenAI signs deal with Financial Times to use its content to train AI models

The Financial Times has signed a deal with OpenAI to license its content to develop AI models and allow ChatGPT to respond to queries with summaries attributed to the paper, the latest media tie-up for the Microsoft-backed startup.

Financial terms of the agreement announced Monday were not disclosed. This follows similar deals by OpenAI in the past few months with the Associated Press, global news publisher Axel Springer, France’s Le Monde and Spain-based Prisa Media.

The latest deal will help the startup enhance the ChatGPT chatbot with archived content from the FT, and the firms will work together to develop new AI products and features for FT readers, the newspaper and OpenAI said in a statement.

Summaries generated by ChatGPT outside of FT content will also link back to the paper, according to the companies.

“We are keen to explore the practical outcomes of news sources and AI through this partnership,” said FT Group chief executive John Reading.

ChatGPT, which fueled the GenAI boom in late 2022, can mimic human conversation and perform tasks such as creating summaries of long text, writing poems, and even generating theme party ideas.

Some outlets are already using generative AI for their content. BuzzFeed said it would use AI to power its site’s personality quizzes, and the New York Times used ChatGPT to create a Valentine’s Day message generator last year.

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