The synthetic intelligence agency OpenAI is paying the digital media firm Dotdash Meredith a minimal of round $16 million per 12 months to license its content material, based on public monetary paperwork from IAC, the dad or mum firm of Dotdash Meredith.
The determine is a minimal as a result of it solely displays the “fastened” part of the fee and never the “variable” part, which can be calculated sooner or later, IAC chief working and monetary officer Chris Halpin advised analysts on an earnings name final week.
“Should you take a look at Q3 of 2024, licensing income was up about $4.1 million 12 months over 12 months. The lion’s share of that will be pushed by the OpenAI license,” Halpin mentioned. “In order that’s—on a quarterly foundation—an excellent proxy for the income we’re recognizing. After which the variable parts can be calculated and acknowledged sooner or later.”
Dotdash Meredith, IAC, and OpenAI declined to remark.
The multi-year partnership between the 2 corporations was introduced in Might and is considered one of a number of offers that OpenAI has struck with publishers during the last 12 months to coach its large-language fashions on publishers’ content material.
The AI agency has additionally signed agreements with Axel Springer, Vox Media, Condé Nast, The Atlantic, and The Monetary Instances, amongst others.
Whereas the Dotdash Meredith tie-up has been extensively reported, the scale of the fee has not. In truth, apart from Information Corp., which is receiving as much as $250 million over 5 years to be used of its content material, OpenAI has saved hidden the monetary particulars of its writer partnerships.
The secrecy has spurred each hypothesis and consternation, as publishers seeking to decide the worth of their very own libraries have lacked public comparables. In January, The Info reported that OpenAI was providing publishers between $1 million to $5 million per 12 months.
The dimensions of the funds can be integral in serving to publishers decide whether or not they need to pursue a partnership or discover various options. The New York Instances, as an illustration, has sued OpenAI for copyright infringement.
With out the inclusion of the variable fee, the total worth of the settlement is inconceivable to find out. However taken by itself, the roughly $16 million fastened fee quantities to three.6% of the corporate’s $439 million third-quarter income.
