A wish list with limits: What publishers want to see from Google’s AI licensing deals

After years of scraping and stonewalling, Google is beginning to talk AI licensing with publishers. The shift has triggered a familiar mix of caution and resignation among media execs. They’ve seen this before: overtures of partnership that quietly lead to more platform control.

The timing isn’t surprising. Amazon’s deal with The New York Times in June added urgency to a space where publishers are already uneasy about how their content is being used to train AI systems. 

Now Google is playing catch up, reportedly holding exploratory talks with around 20 publishers. What comes of those talks is still a moving target. But the outlines of what publishers want are already clear. The demands are straightforward, if a little aspirational: real money, real transparency and — perhaps most elusive — a sense of control in a market that has rarely offered it.

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