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Google has opened negotiations with nearly 20 national news publishers, signaling a shift in how the tech giant intends to engage with the media industry in the age of generative AI. According to a Bloomberg report, the pilot initiative aims to license news content for use in Google’s AI-driven products, including chatbots and AI-generated summaries. The move is being viewed as both a reputational reset and a legal safeguard.

Tensions between tech platforms and media houses have been mounting as AI tools increasingly rely on publisher content to train models and generate responses that divert users away from original sources. While startups like OpenAI and Perplexity AI have already begun licensing content, Google's scale makes its efforts particularly consequential.

If the pilot succeeds, it could open up a fresh revenue stream for news outlets that have been hit hard by declining ad revenue and reader engagement. But analysts caution that Google’s latest move is as much about managing risk as it is about rebuilding trust.

"Search engines integrating generative AI are increasingly vulnerable to legal scrutiny," says Siddharth Chandrashekhar, advocate and counsel at the Bombay High Court. He points to lawsuits like The New York Times versus OpenAI and formal complaints filed in the European Union against Google as signals of a global wave of copyright and antitrust litigation. "As AI tools reduce traffic to publisher sites, claims of copyright infringement and market harm will grow, especially if content is reused without explicit consent. Without regulatory clarity, platforms integrating Gen AI have two options: license or risk litigation."

Chandrashekhar explains that under most copyright regimes, using protected content in AI tools, especially when excerpts or paraphrased segments are displayed, requires permission from the rights holders. "Google’s AI tools surface identifiable text directly, which is more than mere indexing. Thus, licensing from publishers is a prudent legal safeguard."

He adds that in India, where "fair dealing" is narrower and mostly limited to non-commercial use, licensing becomes even more critical. "This is not merely image management. It is a legal risk mitigation strategy, particularly as courts worldwide begin examining what constitutes transformative use."

Unlike jurisdictions such as the EU or the UK, India does not explicitly allow commercial text and data mining. In contrast, U.S. courts have sometimes upheld the training of AI models on publicly accessible content as transformative fair use. However, judgments like the one in the Anthropic case have drawn boundaries, especially where acquisition is unlawful.

According to Sonam Chandwani, Managing Partner at KS Legal and Associates, "Lawsuits like NYT versus OpenAI are a harbinger. As generative AI becomes part of mainstream search experiences, entities with significant market power and heavy content reliance will become prime targets."

She argues that courts will soon be forced to confront a core legal question: whether AI-generated content differs enough from classical search to qualify under fair use. "Legally, there’s a significant difference between indexing for retrieval and synthesizing or repackaging content in AI-generated formats. Indexing supports discovery. Generation arguably creates a derivative work. The line is crossed when the AI output mimics the substance or structure of proprietary material in a way that supplants its value."

Read More:<a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/indias-ai-revolution-airtel-hand-delivers-perplexity-pro-to-370-mn-challenging-googles-reign-75571.htm" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Airtel’s bold bet: Perplexity Pro lands on 370 mn phones, taking aim at Google in India’s AI race</a>

While the legal calculus unfolds, industry insiders are also scrutinizing the economics of the licensing model. Arjit Sachdeva, co-founder of VDO.AI, believes Google's gesture is well-timed but incomplete. "Google’s licensing push is a step in the right direction. However, at face value, it reflects a strategic move to de-escalate tensions with publishers and demonstrate a willingness to share value. But structurally, the model remains limited."

According to Sachdeva, when AI Overviews appear in search results, they trigger a sharp drop in organic traffic for publishers. "That’s not just a dent in visibility. It’s a direct hit on revenue. While licensing introduces a new stream, the current pay-per-crawl model is a one-time transaction for perpetual value extraction. In contrast, a publisher’s monetisation model is recurring and dynamic."

He suggests that the real solution lies in a more scalable and usage-based compensation system, similar to music royalties. "Publishers should be paid each time their content contributes to an AI response. This could be structured through tokenization or pay-per-query frameworks. So yes, licensing is a positive gesture, but unless it’s tied to scalable, repeatable compensation models, it won't offset the structural revenue erosion AI is creating."

The impact is not limited to organic traffic. As AI Overviews and summary-first interfaces gain traction, Sachdeva notes a stagnation in video ad engagement across multiple publisher partners. The issue is visibility. "When answers are served at the top of the page, fewer users scroll through to the ad-supported content below the fold."

On the supply side, another challenge is rising. The proliferation of MFA (Made-for-Advertising) websites, many fueled by AI-generated content, is diluting inventory quality. "IAS research shows MFA video impressions garner 28 percent lower attention, and recent studies indicate up to a 50 percent drop in reader trust when AI content is suspected."

For Sachdeva, the way forward is clear. "The opportunity now lies in rebuilding monetisation models that optimize for attention, quality, and context, not just impressions. That’s the roadmap we’re betting on."

As Google's licensing pilot unfolds, what remains to be seen is whether it can truly rebalance the equation between those who build the platforms and those who create the content that fuels them.

Read More:<a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/is-perplexity-the-supercharged-google-that-will-unseat-chatgpt-in-india-75811.htm" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Is Perplexity the "supercharged Google" that will unseat ChatGPT in India?</a>

<a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/special-coverage/storyboard18-dnpa-conclave-2025-meitys-abhishek-singh-to-share-views-on-digital-news-platforms-57304.htm">Read more: Storyboard18 DNPA Conclave 2025: MEITY’s Abhishek Singh to share views on future-ready digital ecosystems</a>

The AI checkmate: Google's licensing push tests the limits of tech–publisher power dynamics

OpenAI has introduced a new general-purpose AI agent within ChatGPT, designed to execute a wide range of computer-based tasks for users. The company states this agent can automatically manage calendars, generate editable presentations, and run code.

The tool, named ChatGPT agent, merges functionalities from OpenAI’s earlier agentic tools. These include Operator's web-clicking ability and Deep Research's capacity to synthesize information from numerous websites into concise reports. OpenAI reports users will interact with the agent through natural language prompts in ChatGPT.

ChatGPT agent is available today for subscribers to OpenAI’s Pro, Plus, and Team plans. Users can activate the tool by selecting "agent mode" in ChatGPT’s dropdown menu.

This launch represents OpenAI’s attempt to evolve ChatGPT into an agentic product capable of taking direct actions and offloading tasks, rather than only answering questions. Previous AI agents from various Silicon Valley companies have struggled with complex tasks, often falling short of initial product visions. However, OpenAI indicates ChatGPT agent offers enhanced capabilities over its prior offerings.

The new agent can utilize ChatGPT connectors, allowing users to link applications like Gmail and GitHub for relevant information retrieval. OpenAI states ChatGPT agent has terminal access and can use APIs to access specific applications.

OpenAI suggests the agent can be used to "plan and buy ingredients to make Japanese breakfast for four" or "analyze three competitors and create a slide deck." These tasks require the agent to process websites, plan actions, and utilize tools.

The model supporting ChatGPT agent demonstrates strong performance on various benchmarks. OpenAI reports a score of 41.6% on Humanity’s Last Exam (pass@1), a test spanning over a hundred subjects, approximately doubling the scores of OpenAI’s o3 and o4-mini models. On FrontierMath, a challenging math benchmark, ChatGPT agent scored 27.4% with tool access; the previous highest score from o4-mini was 6.3%.

OpenAI developed ChatGPT agent with safety protocols, acknowledging the new capabilities could present risks. In a safety report for ChatGPT agent, OpenAI has classified the model as "high capability" in biological and chemical weapon domains, a designation indicating potential to "amplify existing pathways to severe harm." OpenAI notes this is a precautionary measure lacking direct evidence, leading to the activation of new safeguards.

These safeguards for ChatGPT agent include a real-time monitor that analyzes prompts for biological relevance. If detected, a second monitor assesses the agent’s response for potential biological threat content. OpenAI has also disabled ChatGPT’s memory feature for this agent to prevent misuse, such as sensitive data exfiltration via prompt injection attacks, though this feature may be revisited.

The real-world performance of ChatGPT agent remains to be seen, as agent technology has historically faced challenges in practical application. OpenAI states it has developed a more capable model to deliver on the promise of AI agents.

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OpenAI launches general purpose "ChatGPT Agent" for automated task completion

OpenAI, the artificial intelligence powerhouse behind ChatGPT, has officially added Alphabet's Google Cloud to its roster of computing suppliers. This move, confirmed by an updated list on OpenAI's website, signals the company's aggressive strategy to meet the escalating demands of its AI models.

The AI giant, which already leverages services from Microsoft, Oracle, and CoreWeave, finalized the deal with Google in May after months of negotiations. 

This partnership highlights the immense computing power required to train and deploy advanced AI, a need that is actively reshaping the competitive landscape of the industry. It also marks OpenAI's latest step to diversify its computational resources, lessening its reliance on long-time supporter Microsoft and its ambitious Stargate data center project.


Earlier this year, OpenAI also forged significant alliances with SoftBank and Oracle for the $500 billion Stargate infrastructure program, and secured multi-billion-dollar agreements with CoreWeave to further bolster its computing capacity.

The collaboration with Google Cloud is a notable shift in OpenAI's infrastructure strategy. Until January, Microsoft's Azure cloud service had been the exclusive data center provider for the ChatGPT maker. Sources previously told Reuters that earlier discussions between Google and OpenAI were hampered by OpenAI's existing exclusivity agreement with Microsoft.



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OpenAI is appealing an order in a copyright case brought by the New York Times that requires it to preserve ChatGPT output data indefinitely, arguing that the order conflicts with privacy commitments it has made with users, as per reports.

Last month, a court said OpenAI had to preserve and segregate all output log data after the Times asked for the data to be preserved.

"We will fight any demand that compromises our users' privacy; this is a core principle," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a post on X on Thursday.

"We think this (The Times demand) was an inappropriate request that sets a bad precedent."

 The significance of ANI versus OpenAI

The newspaper sued OpenAI and Microsoft in 2023, accusing them of using millions of its articles without permission to train the large language model behind its popular chatbot.

Stein said in an April court opinion that the Times had made a case that OpenAI and Microsoft were responsible for inducing users to infringe its copyrights.

The opinion explained an earlier order that rejected parts of an OpenAI and Microsoft motion to dismiss, saying that the Times' "numerous" and "widely publicized" examples of ChatGPT producing material from its articles justified allowing the claims to continue.

Read More:<a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/brand-marketing/openai-pushes-back-against-nyts-demand-to-preserve-all-user-chats-69102.htm" rel="noopener" target="_blank">OpenAI pushes back against NYT’s demand to preserve all user chats</a>

OPENAI