GoKawiilAI firms begin paying for training content, but publishers can't set the price
A market has emerged in which AI companies pay to license publisher content for training large language models, after years of scraping the open web largely for free using resources like Common Crawl. Publishers are now receiving payment, but reportedly have little or no influence over how that price is determined.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
The shift from free scraping to paid licensing suggests AI companies are responding to legal and reputational pressure over using copyrighted material without consent. However, if publishers cannot negotiate rates, the emerging market could still undervalue content relative to its role in training commercially valuable AI systems, leaving publishers with limited leverage despite finally being compensated.
- AI companies are now paying publishers for content used in training, a shift from earlier free scraping practices
- Publishers reportedly lack meaningful input into how licensing prices are set
- The change signals growing commercial and legal pressure on AI labs over data sourcing practices
Source: fastcompany.com, 2026-10-02
Published there as: “Publishers finally have AI buyers for their content yet zero say in the price”
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