The New York Times, Agence France‑Presse and The Economist recently joined a coalition of over 40 publishers that aims to stop AI companies from using or profiting from their content without permission. This move highlights growing concerns about how AI training threatens news business models.

The Standards for Publisher Usage Rights (SPUR) coalition, launched in February, now counts more than 80 members in over 20 countries. New members such as The Atlantic and Brazil’s National Association of Newspapers have joined founding partners like the Financial Times, BBC and Associated Press.

Publishers are increasing legal pressure on AI firms; for example, USA Today and several of its owned newspapers sued OpenAI earlier this month, alleging copyright infringement because the company used their articles to train large language models. These lawsuits illustrate the sector’s willingness to defend its intellectual property in court.

Google organic‑search referrals to more than 2,500 sites fell 33 % worldwide between November 2024 and November 2025, a drop linked to AI‑generated answers that bypass clicks. In response, SPUR is creating a Content Telemetry Standard to let publishers track AI use and negotiate licences, while also developing broader industry‑wide standards.

The key takeaway is that publishers are uniting through the SPUR coalition to protect their content from AI exploitation. By combining legal action with new technical standards, they hope to secure fair compensation and preserve the value of their journalism.