The Australian Associated Press (AAP) has become the first Australian publisher to allow Google to scrape its news content to train its AI engine, Gemini.
Details about the deal have not been disclosed, but the newswire will open up its news content to Google to “help enhance the usefulness of results displayed in the Gemini app”.
Publishers have been securing licensing deals to extract value from AI companies, such as OpenAI, Amazon and Perplexity, using their content to train large language models (LLMs).
To date, Google has been slow off the mark in securing deals with news outlets. It has deals with the social media platform Reddit and the US newswire, AP, and reportedly has begun talks with up to 20 different news organisations around the world to strike content licensing deals.
AAP, which was established 90 years ago, is Australia’s only independent newswire that supplies articles, photography, video and fact-checking to hundreds of digital, broadcast and print outlets across Australia, including many in regional areas.
“We are pleased to partner with Google to provide our journalism as a mechanism for ensuring timeliness and accuracy in the information that its products provide,” AAP CEO Emma Cowdroy said.
“This is a strong endorsement of our reputation as a leading and trusted news media organisation.”
Earlier this year, AAP provided fact checking services to Google during the run up to the federal election. AAP said its long-term partnership with Google included assistance with AAP’s digital transformation.
“Google has partnered with AAP for several years on training journalists and investing in digital innovation,” Google’s head of news partnerships for Australia and New Zealand Nic Hopkins said. “This new partnership with AAP will help deliver a feed of real-time information to enhance responses in the Gemini app and will assist Australians when they look for locally relevant up-to-date information.”
Since the rise of answer engines ChatGPT and Google’s AI overviews—which provides answers to queries without users having to click through to websites—publishers have reported substantial drops in traffic.
Publishers are concerned AI-powered answer engines pose an existential threat to business models that have traditionally relied on Google’s search engine traffic.
