The New York Times Signs AI Licensing Deal with Amazon

The New York Times has entered into a multi-year licensing agreement with Amazon, marking the paper’s first formal deal in the generative AI space. The deal, announced Thursday, allows Amazon to use Times content across a range of consumer experiences, including its AI-powered voice assistant Alexa. Amazon will also be able to use the publication’s journalism to help train its AI models.

Under the agreement, Amazon can incorporate summaries and short excerpts from The Times, The Athletic, and NYT Cooking into its products. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The partnership comes as generative AI companies face increasing legal pressure over the use of copyrighted news content without permission. In late 2023, The Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing them of illegally using millions of its articles to train AI systems while cutting into subscription, advertising, and licensing revenue.

A Strategic Shift Toward Compensation

This agreement signals a strategic shift toward compensation over confrontation—at least with Amazon. Meredith Kopit Levien, CEO of The New York Times Company, told staff the deal reflects the company’s broader philosophy.

“The deal is consistent with our long-held principle that high-quality journalism is worth paying for,” Levien said. “It aligns with our deliberate approach to ensuring that our work is valued appropriately, whether through commercial deals or through the enforcement of our intellectual property rights.”

Amazon, for its part, launched its revamped AI assistant Alexa Plus earlier this year in early access. The company claims “hundreds of thousands of customers” have already interacted with the upgraded assistant, which blends voice responses with generative AI features.

Legal Pressure Mounts on the AI Industry

The Times’ lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft remains ongoing, and it's not alone. Several other news organizations have filed similar lawsuits, including:

• The Intercept

• Raw Story

• CBC/Radio-Canada

• Red Ventures, owner of IGN and CNET

At the same time, some publishers have chosen to license their content instead. Recent AI licensing deals have included partnerships with The Atlantic, News Corp, and Vox Media, the parent company of The Verge.

What sets the Amazon deal apart is that it was negotiated with clear licensing terms and payment, giving The Times direct compensation for use of its content. In contrast, the lawsuit against OpenAI stems from the alleged use of Times journalism without permission or payment—highlighting why that legal battle is still unresolved.

What This Means

The Times-Amazon deal is one of the clearest examples yet of a major publisher opting into generative AI under negotiated terms, rather than fighting its use through the courts. It signals a potential blueprint for how journalism and AI companies might coexist—if there's money on the table.

With Alexa and other Amazon tools set to surface Times content in new ways, the agreement could extend the reach of the publication’s reporting while protecting its business model. At the same time, the company’s ongoing lawsuit suggests it will continue to push back against unauthorized use by others.

This dual-track strategy—licensing with some, litigating against others—may not just shape the future of copyright law in AI, but define whether journalism survives as something built or simply scraped.

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.