OpenAI partners with Hearst, publishers of Cosmopolitan and Elle.

Hearst has become one of the leading publishers in the United States to establish a licensing agreement to grant its content to OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. This agreement, announced on Tuesday, will allow content from over 60 Hearst publications to be available on ChatGPT and other OpenAI products. Among the most notable publications are Esquire, Cosmopolitan, and Elle, as well as newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle. When Hearst content is used in ChatGPT, the software will provide citations and direct links.

The parties involved did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement. Unlike the collaboration that OpenAI signed with Dotdash Meredith in May, the alliance with Hearst does not seem to include plans for joint work on advertising technology. Jeff Johnson, president of Hearst’s newspaper division, emphasized the importance of professional journalism being present in AI products: “As generative AI matures, it is crucial that journalism created by professional journalists is at the heart of all AI products. This agreement allows the reliable and curated content created by the award-winning journalists of Hearst Newspapers to be part of OpenAI products like ChatGPT, generating more timely and relevant results.”

This announcement comes less than a week after it was reported that OpenAI managed to raise a record $6.6 billion in new venture capital funding. Since the beginning of 2024, OpenAI has signed licensing deals with media outlets like The Financial Times and Condé Nast, the owner of publications such as Vogue, The New Yorker, and Wired. However, not all publishers are as willing to collaborate with the AI giant. Late last year, The New York Times filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, and Alden Capital Group, owner of newspapers like The Chicago Tribune and New York Daily News, also filed a lawsuit against it.