NYT, Economist among publishers joining coalition to curb unpaid AI use

The New York Times newspaper is seen rolling off the presses in the Queens borough of New York City, U.S., Nov. 5, 2024. Photo by Reuters

Agence France-Presse and The Economist on Monday joined more than 40 publishers in a coalition aimed at ​preventing AI firms from using or profiting from their content ‌without permission.

The Standards for Publisher Usage Rights (SPUR) coalition, launched in February, now has more than 80 members across over 20 countries. New members include The Atlantic and Brazil's National Association of Newspapers, joining founding members such as the Financial Times, BBC and Associated Press.

Publishers are stepping up ⁠legal efforts to prevent AI companies from using their content without permission to train large language models. Earlier this month, USA Today and several newspapers it owns sued OpenAI, alleging copyright infringement.

OpenAI and its backer, Microsoft, opens new tab, also face similar copyright claims from prominent authors and news organizations, including the New York Times.

SPUR, which is funded entirely by its members, is developing industry-wide standards and technical systems to help publishers track and control how AI companies use their ‌content ⁠and facilitate licensing agreements, according to its website.

"Intellectual property protection and technological advancement can and must co-exist," Rebecca Grossman-Cohen, the New York Times' head of strategic partnerships and chief of staff, said in a statement.

Publishers are also grappling with declining referral ⁠traffic as search engines roll out AI-generated answers that allow users to consume information without clicking through to websites.

Google organic-search referrals to more than 2,500 websites fell 33% ⁠globally between November 2024 and November 2025, according to a Reuters Institute report, citing data from Chartbeat.

SPUR said it recently introduced its Content Telemetry ⁠Standard, designed to standardize how AI agents record and report their use of media content, as part of efforts to ensure creators are compensated for their work.