Credit: Juan Saavma via Unsplash
We’ll go easy on you if you hand yourself in now and admit to stealing.
That’s the message from News Corp CEO Robert Thomson.
News Corp has a woo or sue policy. AI companies must pay for use of the media group’s content or they end up in court.
“We'd like you to be our partner but if you're stealing our stuff, we are going to sue you,” Thomson told Morgan Stanley’s investor conference.
He noted that the media group had tracked bots scrapping News Corp content for new AI verticals.
“Well, we're coming for you,” he said.
“We can see you doing it. We'll get around to you eventually.
“There will be a discount for those who hand themselves in and there'll be a penalty for those that resist.
“But it is interesting that the sentiment we see at the front end is already changing. And the fact that people either legitimately or illicitly are already using our content tells us that there's an emerging market that is not yet fully appreciated.”
In terms of content, it’s hard to beat the Times of London or The Australian or Dow Jones, said Thomson.
“If you want to be contemporary, you have to have immediacy,” he said.
“And as we are a company that's minute after minute, hour after hour, generating fresh immediacy. We have something that these companies not only want but need.”
Meta has reportedly agreed to pay News Corp up to $US50 million a year in an AI-content deal.
The Wall Street Journal, owned by News Corp, reports the deal will run for at least three years and allow Meta to use content from the US and the UK.
The latest deal is significant because it is with the world’s major social media platform.
News Corp has been leading publishers to demand payment from AI players.
The company in 2024 signed a multi year deal with OpenAI for the artificial intelligence player to use the global media group's premium content.
Meta last year announced AI content deals with CNN, Fox News, Le Monde Group, People and USA TODAY.
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