After AI firms, Google now plans AI content agreements with news publishers

The move could open up a new revenue stream for news outlets who are battling shrinking readership in a zero-click era of AI summaries

by e4m Staff
Published: Jul 23, 2025 12:41 PM | 1 min read

In a significant shift from its earlier position, Google is now in active discussions with several major news publishers to license their content for training and powering its artificial intelligence tools.

According to a Bloomberg report, Google is in talks with around 20 prominent national news outlets as part of a pilot initiative to explore paid licensing models for AI use. It's not immediately yet clear whether the deals would include publications from other countries.

While Google has confirmed to Bloomberg that it is "exploring and experimenting with new types of partnerships and product experiences", it has not disclosed details about the terms or structure of the proposed agreements.

This move signals a softening of the tech giant’s previously rigid approach to content usage and aligns it with a growing trend among AI firms, including OpenAI and Perplexity, that have already struck licensing deals with media companies.

This pivot follows intense scrutiny over Google’s AI Overviews feature, which surfaces AI-generated summaries at the top of search results. Many publishers argue that these summaries reduce direct traffic to their websites, depriving them of ad revenue and weakening their digital reach.

Google’s competitors have already taken action. OpenAI has signed content deals with organizations such as the Financial Times, Axel Springer, News Corp, and the Associated Press, while Perplexity has also been proactive in forming similar partnerships.