Prominent news outlets including The New York Times, Agence France-Presse (AFP), and The Economist have allied with a publisher coalition aiming to block artificial intelligence firms from utilizing or monetizing their material without authorization. This action arrives as news publishers intensify measures to protect their intellectual property in response to the swift growth of AI technologies.
On Monday, these publishers became part of the Standards for Publisher Usage Rights (SPUR) coalition, bringing its total to over 80 members spanning more than 20 countries since its inception in February.
Publishers Push for Greater Control Over AI Use
Additional new participants—such as The Atlantic and the National Association of Newspapers in Brazil—have aligned with original members like the Financial Times, the BBC, and the Associated Press.
The group is currently creating technical frameworks and industry-wide standards designed to enable publishers to monitor and regulate how AI companies use their content, while also easing the process for licensing deals. SPUR operates on funding provided exclusively by its participants.
“Intellectual property protection and technological advancement can and must co-exist,” stated Rebecca Grossman-Cohen, who serves as The New York Times’ chief of staff and head of strategic partnerships.
News organizations are increasingly resorting to legal avenues to contest the unauthorized exploitation of their journalism for training large language models. Earlier in the month, USA Today along with several affiliated newspapers filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI.
OpenAI and its primary financial supporter, Microsoft, are confronted with comparable copyright lawsuits brought by well-known authors and media outlets, which include The New York Times.
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AI Search Results Add to Publishers’ Concerns
News companies are additionally experiencing drops in referral traffic because search engines now provide AI-generated summaries that permit users to view details directly without navigating to the publishers’ websites.
Global organic-search referrals from Google to upward of 2,500 sites dropped by 33% between November 2024 and November 2025, according to findings from a Reuters Institute study that utilized Chartbeat statistics.
This drop has exacerbated worries regarding how media companies will maintain financial viability as AI platforms supply information directly to consumers.
SPUR Develops Content Tracking Standards
SPUR rolled out its Content Telemetry Standard to create a uniform method for AI bots to log and communicate their consumption of journalistic material.
This project seeks to enhance openness regarding the utilization of publishers’ output and aid initiatives guaranteeing that creators receive proper financial compensation as artificial intelligence businesses scale their activities.
