Amazon is considering launching a marketplace where media publishers can license their content directly to AI companies, joining a growing effort by tech giants to establish legal frameworks for acquiring training data amid ongoing copyright lawsuits.
The e-commerce giant has been meeting with publishing executives about plans for the marketplace. Ahead of an AWS conference for publishers Tuesday, Amazon “circulated slides that mention a content marketplace,” according to reports. An Amazon spokesperson didn’t deny the plans but said only: “Amazon has built long-lasting, innovative relationships with publishers across many areas of our business, including AWS, Retail, Advertising, AGI, and Alexa. We are always innovating together to best serve our customers, but we have nothing specific to share on this subject at this time.”
Amazon wouldn’t be the first major tech company to create such a platform. Microsoft recently launched what it calls a Publisher Content Marketplace, designed to give publishers “a new revenue stream” while providing AI systems with “scaled access to premium content.” Microsoft said the marketplace was designed to “empower publishers with a transparent economic framework for licensing” their content.
The move represents a natural progression for the AI industry, which has sought to resolve legally ambiguous questions about how copyrighted material ends up in AI training data by forging deals with major news outlets. OpenAI has signed content-licensing partnerships with the Associated Press, Vox Media, News Corp, and The Atlantic, among others. Those efforts haven’t stemmed legal fallout, with the fight over copyrighted material in AI algorithms leading to numerous lawsuits still working through the judicial system.
Media publishers have also worried about AI summaries, particularly those surfaced by Google in search results, depressing traffic to their sites. One recent study claimed such summaries have had a “devastating” impact on users clicking through to websites. Publishers may view the marketplace-based system as a “more sustainable business that will scale up revenue” as AI usage continues to escalate.
