OpenAI will pay DotDash Meredith at least $16 million annually to license its content

OpenAI pays digital media company Dotdash Meredith at least $16 million a year to license its content, according to public financial documents reviewed by . A week. We already knew about this growing relationship, but we didn’t have the financial numbers. Now we do.

The actual payment could rise to more than $16 million per year, as it only reflects the “adjusted” portion of the payment. The “flexible” component will be calculated in the future, according to a recent earnings call led by the chief operating and financial officer of Dotdash Meredith’s parent company IAC.

“If you look at Q3 of 2024, licensing revenue was up about $4.1 million year-over-year. A large portion of that will be driven by the OpenAI license,” said CFO Chris Halpin. . Then the variable parts are calculated and observed in the future.”

Dotdash Meredith will license its content to OpenAI to train ChatGPT, but the publisher will also use the company’s AI models to improve its internal ad targeting tool. As part of this initiative, ChatGPT will display content and links mentioned in various publications under the Dotdash Meredith umbrella.

This publication includes things you may have already read, such as Food & Wine, InStyle, Better Homes and Gardenss, Lifewire again Investopediaamong others. Dotdash Meredith also owns and publishes an environmentally conscious site The Treehugger and we they all know how big AI is in nature.

As a side note, I have written many letters for Dotdash Meredith throughout the years. Can the lowly copier please taste that $16 million? Actually, don’t worry. Big payouts are for overpaid executives and not for people who make something people click on. Silly me.

On the other hand, at least OpenAI is paying some companies to use the content now. The business is being sued by everyone who appears The New York Times to comedians like Sarah Silverman, all accused of using content without permission or any form of payment.

Dotdash Meredith is just the latest publisher to offer its content to AI companies to help create our glorious shared future where nobody does anything but pithy messages on social media. I Financial Times entered the same program as OpenAI. Book publisher HarperCollins is also getting in on the act.