British publisher Future has signed a deal with OpenAI, allowing the tech firm to train its chatbot on the former’s specialist magazines and websites.
Weeks after it closed Total Film magazine, British publisher Future PLC has announced that it’s signed a deal with OpenAI.
According to a statement, published on the 4th December, the ‘strategic partnership’ will allow OpenAI to train its ChatGPT algorithm on Future’s portfolio of magazines and websites, which these days includes Marie Claire, PC Gamer, TechRadar and The Week.
“The initiative brings Future’s journalism to new audiences while also enhancing the ChatGPT experience,” the release published on OpenAI’s website reads. “ChatGPT users will be able to access content from across Future’s portfolio, with attribution and links to the full original articles for transparency and further information.”
The deal will put Future’s words before ChatGPT’s reported 300 million users per week, which will presumably mean the publishing company will receive some sort of revenue from OpenAI in return. Of course, the journalists whose words will be fed into the tech firm’s large language model won’t receive a penny in compensation.
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Still, Future boss Jon Steinberg sounds happy about the deal.
“ChatGPT provides a whole new avenue for people to discover our incredible specialist content,” Steinberg enthused. “Future is proud to be at the forefront of deploying AI, both in building new ways for users to engage with our content but also to support our staff and enhance their productivity.”
Future’s deal means it’s joined Condé Nast on a small yet growing list of major publishers who’ve signed a deal with OpenAI. Nast CEO Roger Lynch said at the time of his company’s partnership in August:
“Over the last decade, news and digital media have faced steep challenges as many technology companies eroded publishers’ ability to monetise content, most recently with traditional search Our partnership with OpenAI begins to make up for some of that revenue, allowing us to continue to protect and invest in our journalism and creative endeavours.”
Given the parlous state of journalism and the shrinking number of jobs within the sector (a shrinkage caused in part by the rise of generative AI), a publishing company making such a deal might seem somewhat self-defeating. But then again, it is December – the perfect time for turkeys to vote for Christmas.
